


Her Royal Highness

by sendallthehelp



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: British English, F/F, Modern Royalty, US Women's Soccer National Team
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-06-10 12:31:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 26,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15291576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sendallthehelp/pseuds/sendallthehelp
Summary: Rebellion and the royal family do not mix well, as Rachel Daly has discovered. Being an heir to the British throne has created a void in her life that she believes cannot be filled – until she meets a soccer player named Kristie Mewis…





	1. Chapter 1

Her Royal Highness Rachel Daly looked upon her reflection in the ceiling-length mirror in her room at the grand palace. Rolling her sleeves to her elbows and unbuttoning the top of her shirt, she let out a deep sigh.

“Your highness, would you care for some tea?” One of Rachel’s butlers asked, stood firm at the door.

“I’m fine thank you, Gerald.” Rachel replied, causing the Butler to give a small bow and exit the room.

After waiting a couple of minutes so that she knew the butler had went elsewhere, she stepped out of her room and headed toward the palace kitchen. Making her way through the many cupboards, she found the ingredients she needed and set to work making herself some food.

After finishing her military duties just a few months before, she hated to ask others to do basic tasks for her. Her time in the army had taught her to respect others how she wishes to be respected, no matter of social group.

Rachel hated that her mother would make her use the palace staff for the simplest of tasks. She wasn’t sure of the need to have other people do things for her that she could simply do herself.

“Rachel!” She heard a loud voice shout, “What on earth are you doing here? We have people to do this for you!”

“Mother, I know you do not think much of me, but I can assure you that I can make a sandwich by myself,” Rachel sarcastically replied, earning an eye roll from her mother, the Queen.

“Gosh! Why couldn’t you be like your brother? He followed the rules and was the perfect heir to the throne unlike you!” Her mother shouted, standing tall with her hands on her hips.

“Well he’s dead, mother!” Rachel replied just as loudly, “and I’m sorry that I’m not perfect, but I’m the only blood heir to the throne so you will have to put up with me.”

“Don’t you dare speak of him in that manner! He was a good man who cared about the family and the country, unlike you!” Her mother cried, as she left the room.

Rachel carried on making her sandwich, ignoring the pitying eyes of the palace staff around her. Although they would never admit it, many had a soft spot for the grieving blonde. They had noticed the change in relationship since the first heir to the throne had passed away whilst serving the country in the military – making Rachel the only blood heir remaining.

Taking a moment to calm herself down, Rachel walked back to her room and ate the food she had just made. A knock on the door made her come back down to reality, as she granted permission for the person to enter the room.

“Your highness,” the man bowed, “I have your schedule for tomorrow, ma’am.”

“Thank you,” Rachel replied, “You may leave.”

The man bowed once more, and shut the door on his exit. Rachel set her dirty plate on the table in front of her and took a look at the schedule that was just handed to her.

“The United States Women’s National Team,” Rachel read out loud, “that should be interesting.”

\---

“Listen up girls!” Jill Ellis shouted, gaining the attention of the room.

“Yeah, coach?” Alex Morgan asked, prompting Jill to start speaking.

“Ok, now that we have landed in London ahead of the game against England next week, I have some exciting news I would like to share to you!” Jill said, getting some excited muttering.

“What is it?” Kristie Mewis asked, speaking for the rest of the team as the suspense was killing them.

“I will need you all in your best dresses,” Jill replied, “does that give you a hint?”

“Or suits!” Ashlyn Harris replied, one of the goalkeepers on the national team.

“Yes, or suits!” Jill replied.

“So, it is somewhere fancy,” Kristie muttered.

“Do you give up?” Jill asked?

“Yep!” Alex told her, gaining a laugh from the rest of the girls.

“Well ladies, we are meeting royalty!” Jill shouted, earning some loud cheers, followed by a lot of hugging and muttering amongst the girls.

“The Queen wants to meet us?” Ali Krieger asked.

“Well not the queen exactly, but the heir to the throne, Her Royal Highness Princess Rachel,” Jill told them.

“Isn’t she the one who doesn’t even want to be royalty?” Sydney asked, getting some murmurs of agreement amongst the girls.

“Look, I’m not sure. But what I do know is that she has agreed to meet us so we will. Be on the team bus in your formal wear by eleven A.M. tomorrow,” Jill told them, leaving the room.

“She is good looking though, to be fair…” Ali said to the group, earning a laugh and the smack on the arm from her girlfriend, Ashlyn.

Kristie gathered her belongings from the floor next to her chair, and along with her roommate Sydney made their way back to the hotel room. Tapping the room key on the lock on the door, she held it open for Sydney and they both crashed onto their beds.

“I can’t believe we’re meeting royalty tomorrow,” Kristie said, after a few moments of silence.

“I know, right? It’s crazy!” Sydney replied, rolling onto her side to face her roommate.

“Do you think she is as bad as they say she is?” Kristie asks, also rolling onto her side.

“Probably not, you know what the media are like.” Sydney tells her.

“I heard she just left her brother to die when they were in Afghanistan together,” Kristie said, questioning the statement herself.

“I doubt it,” Sydney replied, “it seems a little unrealistic. Even the person with the smallest heart wouldn’t leave their flesh and blood to die in front of them,”

“Yeah that’s true,” Kristie said, “anyway, we should get some sleep,”

“You’re right, goodnight.”

“Night,”

\---

It was midmorning in the grand palace, and that meant Rachel was just doing the finishing touches to her outfit for the day. As she was meeting people within the palace, the royal protocol prompted her to wear her suit and trousers usually kept for special occasions only.

She firstly put her black fitted trousers on, which had a simple red stripe running down the outside of her leg. Next, she slipped the red buttoned jacket over her head. The jacket had gold shoulder pads with gold material hanging loose. She put the blue ribbon that ran from her shoulder to her opposite waist on top, and fixed her war medals over her heart.

Looking at the mirror in her room, she secured the gold collar and wrists of her jacket and straightened it out. As always, she kissed her medals in memory of her brother and put them back into place. 

Rachel next put her black leather shoes on, and tied her hair back in a simple ponytail. Her mother would kill her if she knew that she didn’t allow the hired hairdresser to do her hair for her – but she could easily do it herself. Instead, she paid for the hairdresser to go on a well-deserved holiday with her family. The less her mother knew the better, she told herself.

Taking a final look at herself, she slipped on the spotless white gloves and slid the blunt sword into its holder on her waist, as it was just for show. She left her room and headed down to the kitchen to have breakfast with some of the palace staff. 

\---

“Do I look ok?” Kristie asked her roommate, finishing her makeup in the mirror.

“Yeah! Girl, you look great!” Sydney replied, sitting down in her purple dress.

“Thanks,” Kristie said, standing up and checking herself out in the mirror.

“Now if I didn’t know better I would think you’re going to a lot of effort to meet the Princess”, Sydney told her, laughing a little.

“Well, she is good looking,” Kristie said shyly.

“Wait, do you like her or something?” Sydney asked, curiously.

“I haven’t even met her! I’m just saying that she looks good!” Kristie told her. She had never made a point of putting a label on her sexuality in the past. But she wasn’t afraid to tell people she wasn’t only attracted to men.

“Well, you go girl!” Sydney said, “hey! We’d better leave if we want to be on time.”

“Yeah sure, I’m ready to go now,” Kristie replied, the pair of them heading out of the door.

“Looking good ladies,” Ashlyn called, as the rest of the team turned to look at the pair.

“Rocking the suit, Ash!” Sydney replied, giving Ashlyn’s arm a squeeze.

“Sorry Syd, I’m taken,” Ashlyn told her with a laugh, giving Ali a kiss on the cheek.

The team made their way onto the bus, careful not to stand on each other’s outfits. Jill made her way to the front of the bus and grabbed the microphone from the bus driver.

“Listen up girls, I have to quickly go through some royal protocol for you!” Jill told them, earning nods from all of the players.

The list seemed never ending for the girls, who had to try and remember them for the encounter they were set to have in just over an hours’ time.

“…and finally, don’t forgot to give a bow or a curtsey to her royal highness!”

One Jill had finished her talk, Kristie put her elbow on the window ledge and put her head on her open hand to rest it there, and look at the beautiful countryside surrounding her.

“I’d love to live here,” she said to no one in particular.

“It’s great isn’t it,” Christen replied, earning a sound of agreement from Kristie.

All too soon, the bus came to a stop and the girls exited the vehicle and gazed upon their surroundings.

“Holy shit! This is amazing!” Tobin said, breaking the silence, and earning laughs throughout the group.

“Hello everyone,” one of the palace staff greeted them in one of strongest English accents Kristie had ever heard, “My name is Gerald and I will be guiding you around the palace today.”

The group followed him, and were amazed by everything they saw. They were given special access to walk through the main living quarters of the palace, which were normally blocked off from the public.

“Rachel! What have I told you about eating with your royal clothes on!” a voice shouted from a couple of rooms away.

The group immediately knew who the voice belonged to, and all turned towards the end of the corridor to try and catch a glimpse of the Queen. Unfortunately for them, she used another door as an exit, and instead they were greeted by the sight of Princess Rachel walking in the opposite direction to them.

“Ah yes, the reception room where you will be meeting her Highness,” Gerald quickly recovered, attempting to get the group as far away from the argument as possible.

The soccer team followed him, sharing worried glances. However, they were soon distracted by the sheer beauty of the reception room. Paintings of past Queens and Kings filled the olive coloured walls, whilst the light from the grand chandeliers reflected off of the glistening wooden floors.

“Make yourself comfortable,” Gerald told them, “have a bit to eat and some drinks. Her highness will be with you shortly.”

After he had left the room the girls quickly burst into gossip about the argument they had just heard between the Queen and her daughter, before they heard the sound of a heavy door open in the centre of the room’s wall.

“Hello everyone,” Her Royal Highness addressed them, “it’s an honour to welcome you all to my home.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Hello everyone,” Her Royal Highness addressed them, “it’s an honour to welcome you all to my home.”

\---

The room was quickly brought to silence as the princess made her introduction to her guests. Stood tall in the entrance of the room, Rachel confidently made her way into the centre of the room and cleared her throat.

“As I’m sure you are aware, my name is Her Royal Highness Princess Rachel Daly, but you can all call me Rachel,” the Princess told the group, “please don’t be too formal, because I hate that too.”

Visibly relaxing, the team broke off into smaller groups as they were told to by Gerald earlier on in the day. Kristie stood with Sydney, Christen and Tobin. They were in the second group to be addressed by her Highness, after Alex, Ali and Ashlyn.

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Tobin asked, as she adjusted the collar on her shirt a little bit.

“No idea,” Christen told her, “she looks interested though,”

“She probably fakes it,” Kristie said, “she must meet so many different people. Surely she can’t be interested in everyone she meets?”

A load laugh brings them out of their conversation. Glancing over to where the laugh came from, they noticed the princess with her head back in a fit of laughter, whilst Ali, Ashlyn and Alex giggled too.

Kristie noticed the genuine happiness in the Princesses’ laughter, which made her smile slightly.

“Damn, she’s hot…” Kristie mumbled to herself, hoping the rest of the girls didn’t hear it. Unfortunately for her, they did.

“Oooh, someone likes the Princess’, Tobin laughed, the other two girls joining in.

“Well, you better get your act together because she is about to come here,” Sydney informed them.

Turning their attention towards the previous group, they noticed the Princess shake hands with their teammates with a wide smile. Checking to make sure her outfit was still presentable, Rachel raised her head and started the short walk towards Kristie’s group.

Looking away to pretend they were not just staring at her, the girls cleared their throats a little bit – trying to avoid making eye contact with the Princess before she did.

“Hello ladies,” the Princess greeted them, “it’s a pleasure to meet you,”

Removing the white glove from her right hand only, she reached out to introduce herself to the group. She firstly introduced herself to Sydney, Tobin, then Christen, and finally Kristie.

“… and you must be Kristie Mewis,” Rachel said, in an incredibly attractive accent in Kristie’s mind.

“Yes, your highness,” Kristie replied, trying to hide her blush, “it’s an honour to meet you,”

“The honour is all mine,” Rachel told her, slowly shaking her hand.

Rachel slipped her glove back onto her right hand, and made sure it was on correctly. This gave Kristie a moment to take in how attractive Rachel looked. She loved the way Rachel’s royal clothes fit her body perfectly, and found the war medals on top of her heart incredibly attractive.

Kristie wasn’t alone in checking out the girl in front of her. At the same time, Rachel was taking in the sheer beauty of the girl stood in her eye line. She wore a maroon dress with the same colour lipstick, Rachel noticed. Being only an inch or two taller than the woman in front of her, Rachel predicted she would be a few more if Kristie were to take off her heels. Telling herself to stop thinking like that, she started a light conversation with the soccer players.

“So, I hear you are playing the England football team in a few days’ time?” Rachel asks them, to try and ease their nerves a little.

“Yeah, next week,” Tobin smiled, the group looking at her, “no offence, but we should beat them,”

“Oh, I have no doubt,” Rachel replied, earning a laugh from the girls, “between us, I always root for the American team unless my country is playing,”

This earned another laugh from the small group. They were starting to warm up to the Princess, and beginning to not believe what the press were saying about her.

After a few more minutes of light chatter, Rachel informed them that she needed to move onto the next group of soccer players.

“How about we take a photograph for the national team’s social media?” Rachel asked.

“Sure,” the girls said at once, giving each other looks of approval.

“Great, I’ll just squeeze into the middle,” Rachel replied.

“Are we allowed to put our arms around you?” Christen asked, unsure of the protocol.

“I don’t see why not,” Rachel smiled.

To Rachel’s right stood Tobin with her arm around Christen’s waist, with Christen placing both of hers on Tobin’s shoulder. On Rachel’s right, stood Kristie unsure of what to do, with Sydney on her other side.

“You can touch me, you know,” Rachel told the girl, putting her right arm around her waist.

“Ok,” Kristie smiled, doing the same. Building up a little courage, she also placed her other hand on the Princesses’ stomach, getting a bigger smile out of the taller girl. Kristie felt the royal’s stomach muscles flex under her touch, which made the pair blush slightly.

“It was lovely meeting you all,” Rachel told the girls after the photograph had been taken – as she looked directly into Kristie’s eyes.

Rachel slowly backed away from the group and gave them another quick smile. With that, she made her way to the next group of national team players, and once again removed the glove on her right hand and introduced herself to the girls.

“Well then,” Tobin said, gaining the attention of the girls around her, “that was a lot less nerve-wrecking than I thought it was going to be,”

“Yeah, she seems really nice,” Christen added, with a small smile.

“Yeah, she does,” Kristie said, day-dreaming a little.

This caught the attention of the rest of her small group, all wearing bigger smiles at the blonde’s confession.

“I think she likes you too, you know?” Tobin told her, nudging her shoulder against Kristie’s slightly.

“Very funny, Toby,” Kristie told her, refusing to believe the future Queen of England were to like someone like her.

“She’s right though,” Christen added to the conversation, “we all saw the way she looked at you…”

Kristie didn’t reply to that. She definitely didn’t hide how attractive she thought the Princess was. Everyone knew that her Highness was openly gay, never hiding it from the press and the general public – so she understood that there was a possibility of the princess finding her attractive too. The idea alone made her laugh.

After another hour or so, the rest of the team had finished meeting the heir to the throne and were currently talking amongst themselves, unsure of what to do next.

The girls heard someone clear their throat near the centre of the room. They all turned to see Rachel waiting for their attention. 

“I just wanted to say thank you for meeting me today, and good luck with your game next week against England,” Rachel told them, laughing, “I’ll secretly be rooting for you to win,”

With that, Kristie watched as the Princess exited the room, with the palace staff shutting the large door behind her. The girls continued to laugh at what Rachel had said, until Gerald returned to the room.

“If you’re all done here, we can continue on for the rest of the palace tour,” he told them, the large doors once again being opened by the staff.

The girls followed him around the remainder of the tour, which ended in the main entrance of the palace. Gerald thanked the girls for visiting the palace, and left them at the door. 

“The bus will be here within the next ten or so minutes,” Jill informed them, “so if you need the toilet I would go now if I were you,”

After asking a couple of girls if they needed the restroom, Kristie quickly made her way down the corridor towards where she believed the toilets were. Instead, she found the princess carefully looking at a picture, which was too far away for her to see who it was of.

Kristie carried on walking towards her, aiming to sneak past quietly without being detected. However, due to the palace being hundreds of years old, the floorboards were making far more noise than she would have liked, and this alerted the attention of the princess.

“You ok?” Rachel asked Kristie, giving her a small smile.

“Uh, yeah, I’m good,” Kristie told her, looking more at the painting than the princess.

“It’s my brother,” Rachel replied, answering the question Kristie was too scared to ask herself.

“He’s handsome,” Kristie comments, giving Rachel a smile.

“Yeah, he was,” She replied, returning a small smile to Kristie, however hers being far sadder.

“I’m just going to go to the restroom quickly,” Kristie told her, whilst thinking of something to cheer up the royal, “wait here a second, I have something for you!”

With that, the soccer player took off in a fast walk towards the toilets, leaving the Princess stuck in the same place. Rachel wasn’t going to be the first person to admit that the soccer player is incredibly attractive, and she loved the accent of those from America too. Before she could think too much of the soccer player, Kristie returned from the bathroom and smiled at Rachel.

“I’m sure you already have tickets to the England game,” Kristie told Rachel, earning a nod from the girl in front of her, “so, you should come to one of our training sessions,”

“I’m not sure if I’m allowed, to be honest with you,” Rachel replied, shrugging a little.

“C’mon, it will be fun,” Kristie said, nudging Rachel’s side a little, making sure she avoided the sword on her side.

“Ok, you have convinced me,” Rachel laughed, “thank you for this,” she smiled.

“I’d better get going, the girls are going to wonder where I am,” Kristie told her, heading towards where she thought she had come from.

“Kristie,” Rachel called out, which gave Kristie goose bumps, “you came from the opposite direction, darling.”

“Oh,” Kristie laughed, not willing to admit how much she liked Rachel using a nickname for her, “well at least one of us knows their way around this place.”

“Come one, I’ll walk you back to your team mates,” Rachel said, extending her elbow out for the other girl to hold onto.

“Thanks,” Kristie blushed, holding onto the taller girl’s elbow.

They walked in mostly silence back towards the rest of the national team. However, they stopped just around the corner from the girls, and faced each other.

“Hey, is it ok if we took a selfie?” Kristie asked the royal.

“I don’t see why not,” Rachel replied, although knowing full well that selfies were against royal protocol. She couldn’t say ‘no’ to the girl.

The princess positioned herself behind the soccer player and smiled towards the phone in the girl’s hand. After taking several pictures to get the best one, Kristie turned the camera app off and put her phone back into her purse.

“I guess I’ll see you in a couple of days,” Kristie said to Rachel before she left to meet her teammates.

“I guess you will,” Rachel replied, giving the soccer player a charming smile.

Kristie gave her one last smile and turned around the corner to greet the rest of the national team. Rachel watched her walk away from her, and she smiled to herself. She was excited to watch the training session in a couple of days’ time – and for the first time in a long time, she was excited to spend time with someone she liked.

“There you are!” Sydney said, all the girls focusing on Kristie.

“Yeah sorry, I got a little bit lost,” Kristie told them, hiding her blush a little bit.

Once back on the bus, she opened her Instagram app and posted the picture of her and the princess. She captioned it with - ‘@Kmewis19: Had a special day in England today, and had the pleasure of meeting Her Royal Highness Rachel Daly!’ and shut the app.

“Uh, when did you take that picture?” Sydney asked her, having seen the picture of the pair straight away.

“Why do you think I took so long in the restroom?” Kristie asked, laughing a little.


	3. Chapter 3

“Uh, when did you take that picture?” Sydney asked her, having seen the picture of the pair straight away.

“Why do you think I took so long in the restroom?” Kristie asked, laughing a little.

\---

After she had posted the picture onto Instagram, Kristie fell asleep with her head against the window of the bus. She was soon woken by the constant stream of notifications currently taking place on her phone. Unlocking it, she noticed that most of them were from her most recent post on Instagram – the picture of her and the heir to the throne.

She quickly found that it had already became her most liked picture, within just under an hour of posting it. A big smile spread across her face, and reading the comments made it even bigger. Many of her followers were telling her that they ‘ship’ them together – which was a mystery to Kristie.

“Hey Christen,” Kristie said, tapping her shoulder to gain her attention.

“Mhm?” Christen mumbled in reply.

“What does ‘shipping’ mean?” she asked, confused to what her followers were trying to get at.

“It means they want people to get together,” Christen told her, “why?”

“Oh, nothing,” Kristie said, as she kept scrolling through the comments on her Instagram picture.

She took another look at the picture she had posted of Rachel and herself. She had to admit, they did look really good together. She still wasn’t over how attractive Rachel looked earlier, and stared at her for a little while on her phone.

“Well, someone has a crush,” Sydney sang, and a few of the girls on the bus laughed along with her.

Kristie didn’t give a response back, and instead chose to try and hide the blush that was making its way across her face. She closed her eyes and remembered the butterflies she had when she met the future Queen of England. She remembered how she felt when they took the photographs together, both the selfie and the official photograph. She also remembered trying to hide her blush when Rachel led her back to her teammates, offering an elbow to her.

“I have invited her to our training session in a couple of days,” Kristie told the group who were making fun of her.

“Of course you did,” Tobin replied, earning a mixture of laughter and smirks from the girls around them.

“Is it that obvious?” Kristie asked, although deep down she already knew the answer.

“Yep,” most of the girls replied at the same time, making Kristie blush even more than before.

\---

Rachel was lying on her bed after she had met the national women’s team earlier on in the day. She had changed out of her formal clothes and was now currently wearing a simple outfit consisting of blue skinny jeans and a plain white t-shirt, which revealed the small tattoo of her brother’s military personnel number which was on the inside of her left elbow.

She had just posted the picture with Christen, Tobin, Sydney and Kristie onto her official royal Instagram page with the caption - ‘@HRHRachelDaly: lovely to meet you all today, good luck for the match!’.

Scrolling through Instagram, she decided to try and find the Instagram page of a certain blonde that had been occupying her mind for the better part of the afternoon. She decided the best way to find her would be to find the United States women’s national team page, and look to see who they were following. After only a couple of minutes she found the page and scrolled through it.

The first picture that she came across was the one of the pair Kristie had asked to take after they had walked back to the rest of the national team. Rachel liked that she was a couple of inches taller than the other blonde, and the picture made her smile.

She then went back onto the national team’s Instagram page, and found their most recent picture to be of a collection of photographs of all of the pictures that were taken that day. Most of them were the ones she took with the smaller groups, with others being candid’s that she didn’t realise had been taken.

She liked the post and added a comment – ‘@HRHRachelDaly: it was an honour to meet you, thank you for the lovely afternoon.’ Then, she decided to follow the national team, so she could still see new pictures of a certain blonde, without arousing suspicion by following Kristie’s personal page.

A knock on her brought her out of her thoughts, and she told them they could enter.

“Your highness, the Queen would like to see you,” the man told her, bowing slightly.

“Thank you, do you know where she is?” Rachel asked, understanding the enormous scale of the palace.

“She is in the dining room, ma’am.” The man replied, exiting the room with another bow.

Slipping her phone into the pocket of her jeans, she started the few minute walk to the grand palace dining room, to find out what her mother wanted from her.

“Rachel,” the Queen greeted her, as Rachel took her seat at the dining table.

“What is this about?” Rachel sighed, not in the mood to deal with her mother right now.

“You have broken royal protocol,” her mother said, simply.

“How?” Rachel asked, although she already knew the answer.

“Taking the selfie with the girl!” her mother shouted, “surely you know better than that!”

“I don’t see what the problem is, mother,” Rachel told her, shrugging slightly.

“Do you even care about the family?” the Queen raised her voice once again.

“Of course I do,” Rachel sighed, really not in the mood anymore.

“Then act like it!” Her mother shouted, abruptly leaving the room.

Rachel sighed, and looked towards the ceiling, trying to hide her tears. A tissue was put in her hand by Gerald, who she gave a smile in return. Rachel knew that he was the only friend she really had in the world, after the death of her brother.

They were best friends during their childhood, and shared the same friendship group. Once the news broke of her brother’s passing, their friends blamed her for his death and stopped speaking to her after his funeral, which was a national event – it made her detest her social position even more.

\---

A few days after the national team had met the heir to the English throne, the team had a training session only a few miles away from the grand palace. Kristie remembered inviting the princess to the session, but doubted that she would really come.

Around an hour into their training session, Kristie had given up on the idea of Rachel turning up. The team noticed the blonde’s foul mood and tried to cheer her up, but there really wasn’t much they could do to improve Kristie’s mood.

After another half an hour, the group stopped training and went to grab a bottle of water during a fifteen-minute break. Kristie was busy talking to some of her teammates that she didn’t notice a blacked-out, bullet-proof Range Rover park next to the training ground.

Stepping out of her car, she smoothed down her navy, fitted slacks. She made sure that her white, button-up shirt was undone at the very top, and was rolled up to her elbows. Rachel lastly checked the time on her watch and cringed to find that she was over an hour late to the training session.

She had spent the morning visiting her brother’s grave as she did every week, as she knew that Wednesday’s were the only day that she was free to do so without being bothered by her mother or any of her old friends. The family had never revealed to the public where her brother had been buried, so she had to make sure that she was not followed there, and when she returned home.

Ashlyn was the first person to notice the arrival of the royal. She squinted towards the car in an attempt to confirm her suspicions, which some of the girls had picked up on.

“Is that who I think it is?” Ashlyn asked, a little louder than she needed to, as a way to grab Kristie’s attention. Everyone knew it was the Princess, but she wanted to improve the mood of the blonde.

This caught Kristie’s attention, as she turned towards the royal. At this point, the rest of the team slowly backed away from her in order to give her some privacy, as they all knew that they liked each other, but wouldn’t admit it to one another.

“Sorry I’m so late,” Rachel told Kristie, once she had reached the other blonde, “I got a little side-tracked visiting someone.”

“Anyone nice?” Kristie asked, feeling herself getting a little bit jealous.

“My brother’s grave,” Rachel told her, giving her a sad smile. 

“Sorry,” Kristie said, rubbing the royal’s elbow. She felt guilty for being jealous now.

“It’s ok,” Rachel replied, trying to ignore the sparks she felt, “thanks for inviting me.”

“No worries, I have to get back now, but stick around and you can see me kick but!” Kristie told her, earning a laugh from Rachel. Kristie quickly discovered that Rachel’s laugh is going to become her favourite sound in the world.

“I bet you will,” Rachel smiled, and took a seat in the stands.

“Told you she would come,” Sydney said to Kristie, once she returned to the group.

Training ended not long after their chat, and Kristie showered and changed her clothes as soon as she could so she could see the taller blonde. They spent a few more minutes together, before Rachel had to leave and attend a meeting with some other royals in her extended family. They quickly exchanged numbers, and Kristie returned to her teammates, knowing that she was about to be grilled for information.

\---

Another few days had passed since the training session, and the pair had made sure to stay in contact on a regular basis, quickly establishing that they had much in common. On the morning of the game against England, Kristie had received a good luck text from the royal, which made her smile and blush – which her teammates noticed.

Arriving at Wembley stadium, the princess ignored the press and headed straight into the VIP section, where she saw some other people already helping themselves to food and drink. She gave a quick smile to a few people she recognised, mostly the family of the English players who she had saw at previous games.

As the match kicked off, she noticed another couple enter the room, with big smiles on their faces. The pair noticed that the only spare seats were next to a young, smartly dressed woman with sunglasses covering her eyes. They took their seat next to her, earning a smile from the blonde.

“Who are you here watching?” The man asked Rachel.

“Oh, just a few friends on the England team,” Rachel smiled, not wanting to reveal her true identity and receive unwanted attention.

“Oh that’s great! We’re surprising our daughter!” The lady told her, with a wide smile that Rachel couldn’t help but return.

“You must be really proud of her,” Rachel said, focusing back on the game.

The match continued until the final whistle, with the final score being USA 1, England 1. Kristie Mewis had assisted the goal for the US team, with Alex Morgan putting the ball into the back of the net. After an hour or so, the teams made their way up to the VIP boxes to greet their family and friends who had watched the match. Congratulating the England team, Rachel walked away and made herself some tea to the protests of the staff who insisted that they do it for her.

“Mom? Dad!” she heard someone shout. Turning around to see what was going on, she saw Kristie hug the two people she had just been sitting next to. The scene earned a warm smile from the royal, who returned to drinking the tea she had just made.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” The blonde said, after the hug had broken.

“Surprise!” her mum shouted, laughing at Kristie’s disbelieving look.

Rachel wanted to congratulate the soccer player on her assist, but knew better than to disturb Kristie’s time with her family. It was something Rachel had learned the hard way – family is the most important thing in the world. Looking back at the trio, she noticed Kristie motioning for her to come towards her. Not being able to deny the blonde, Rachel as she was asked and headed towards the what she now realised was the Mewis family.

“Rachel, I want you to meet my parents!” Kristie told her, as Rachel shook their hands.

“Mom, dad. This is Her Royal Highness Rachel Daly!” Kristie then said whilst trying to hide a blush, earning shocked looks from her parents.

“Gosh! We had no idea! You should have told us!” Kristie’s dad said to Rachel, after explaining to Kristie that they had been speaking during the match.

“Honestly, it’s fine, I enjoyed being treated normally, even if it was just for an hour or two,” Rachel smiled, earning smiles back from Kristie’s parents.

After a few more minutes of talking, Rachel left the trio to catch up as she headed back to the palace for the rest of the day. She quickly texted Kristie – ‘Well done today, superstar x’ and lay down on her bed, smiling at the thought of the blonde who was she had quickly taken a liking to.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Just a little trigger warning for the end section of this chapter - trying not to spoil too much, but there are some graphic scenes of violence some may be triggered by :) x

After a few more minutes of talking, Rachel left the trio to catch up as she headed back to the palace for the rest of the day. She quickly texted Kristie – ‘Well done today, superstar x’ and lay down on her bed, smiling at the thought of the blonde who was she had quickly taken a liking to.

\---

With a large smile on her face, Kristie returned to the team hotel to get ready for dinner with her parents. Although she wouldn’t admit it, she was incredibly happy that Rachel and her parents seemed to get along well. She liked that Rachel didn’t reveal her true identity to people who do not know who she is, as she does not want the unnecessary attention.

Finishing her makeup in the mirror of the room she shared with Sydney, she grabbed her purse and headed down to the hotel lobby to meet her parents for some food and drink. She was still somewhat shocked that her mum and dad had travelled all the way from the states to watch her play an international game, and she was still waiting to be woken up and discover it was all just a dream.

She walked into the hotel lobby and took a few seconds to find her parents amongst the other people who were walking around her. She quickly walked up to them and gave them both a quick, but tight hug. Once they had parted, they started the short walk to a nearby restaurant her parents had chosen.

“I still can’t believe you’re here!” Kristie said, excitedly.

“Well, we wanted to surprise our little girl,” Kristie’s dad told her, with a wide smile on his face.

“It’s a shame Sam couldn’t make it,” Kristie replied, sadly.

“She’s recovering from her injury,” Her mum told her, “I’m sure she’ll be back in the national team soon.”

Kristie heard her phone in her purse chime, letting her know that she had received a text message. Retrieving her phone and unlocking it, a blush crept up her cheeks. The message was from the royal, and congratulated her on the game. Her blush intensified once she saw Rachel’s nickname for her – ‘superstar’.

“What are you smiling at, dear?” Kristie’s dad asked her, already having an idea of who it was.

“Oh, its’s just Rachel,” she told them, still smiling. She texts Rachel back with – ‘thank you, Rachie’ with the heart emoji.

“What’s going on between you two?” her mum asked her, bluntly.

“I don’t know,” Kristie sighed, “I really like her, but I doubt it would ever work. She’s the next queen of England for god sake!”

“Hey! Don’t put yourself down like that,” her dad said to her, “she’d be lucky to have you.”

Kristie smiled at her parents, and they carried on eating their food with mostly small talk and light conversation. Once they had finished, her dad attempted to pay the bill but was denied. They were told that someone by the name of Rachel had already paid for their food. Her parents looked towards her and noticed their daughter trying (and failing) to hide her blush. They knew her daughter was in safe hands.

\---

Both Rachel and Kristie went to bed that night with a wide smile on their faces. However, these were quickly broken by the morning, after the press had caught on to the pair of them.

Rachel woke to the noise of someone shouting at her. Opening her eyes, she saw her mother waving a bunch of national newspapers in front of her and storming out of the room. Rachel didn’t really register what her mother was saying, so she rubbed her eyes to increase her alertness and started to look at the articles.

‘Royal Romance! Princess Rachel spotted with soccer beauty just months after the tragic death of the true heir to the throne!’ one of the newspaper’s headline read. She looked down to the middle of the page and saw that there were pictures of her and Kristie from the training ground, where Rachel was smiling at the soccer player, whilst Kristie was rubbing her arm. There was another picture of Rachel smiling at Kristie’s parents at the football match, as well as when she shook their hands after the blonde had introduced them.

In anger, she threw the paper onto the floor and let out a frustrated sigh. She couldn’t do anything good in the eyes of the media since she was blamed for her older brother’s death. Quickly changing out of her pyjamas and into jeans with a navy button-up tucked in them, she grabbed the newspaper off of the floor and headed towards the dining room for some breakfast.

“Are you ok, your highness?” Gerald asked, noticing that the princess had barely touched her breakfast.

“Not really, no,” Rachel sighed. She silently handed her friend the national newspaper, and he looked over it with concerned eyes.

“Well, is it true?” he asked her.

“Is what true?” she replied.

“Are you and Miss Mewis together?” he clarified, showing no signs of judgement.

“No,” Rachel told him, “I doubt she will want to be now! I hate the press,” she felt herself getting angry.

“Call her,” he said, rubbing her shoulder, “she deserves that much, at least.”

\---

Kristie woke up to her phone ringing, and a stream of text messages. Without looking at the caller, she picked up the phone, “hello?” she answered.

“Sweetheart, have you seen the news today?” she heard a voice say which she recognised as her fathers.

“No,” she said, “why?”

“Go and buy a newspaper, dear,” her dad told her, “you will want to see this.”

Frowning, she said ‘goodbye’ to her parents and put the phone down. Trying not to wake Sydney, she quickly changed into a pair of leggings and a pink, Nike t-shirt and headed to the hotel lobby in search of a newspaper. Once in the lobby, she noticed people looking at her with curious eyes. Buying a newspaper at the kiosk, she soon noticed why she was getting stared at, and why her dad had called her.

She almost ran back to her room and shut the door behind her. The loud noise woke her roommate up, who began to rub her eyes, and stretch her limbs.

“What’s up?” Sydney asked, noticing the haunted look on Kristie’s eyes.

Kristie didn’t reply, she instead handed the newspaper to her roommate and sat on her bed with her head in her hands. Scanning across the front page, Sydney put the newspaper down and brought her roommate into a tight hug, trying to comfort her.

“She’ll call you,” Sydney told her, “she’d be stupid not to,”

Kristie smiled at what Sydney said. Although angry at the press, Kristie saw it as an opportunity to talk to the royal about how they felt regarding one another. Sydney left a few minutes after to get them some breakfast, and in the meantime her phone rang. Seeing that it was from the princess herself, she quickly composed herself and answered the phone.

“Kristie?” Rachel asked.

“I’m here, Rach,” she told her.

“Have you seen the papers? Rachel questioned.

“Yeah,” Kristie sighed, “I’m sorry,”

“Sweetheart, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Rachel firmly told her, “Look, where are you staying? I think it would be easier if we talked in person.”

Kristie told her the hotel and room number, and they said their goodbyes. Rachel told her that she would be there in the next hour. In the meantime, Sydney had returned with their breakfast and they mostly ate in silence. A knock on the door got their attention, and Sydney stood up to answer it.

“Hi, Sydney,” she heard Rachel say, “can I come in?”

“Sure,” Sydney smiled, and left the room leaving the pair to talk.

“Hi, Superstar,” Rachel said, making Kristie smile as she used her nickname.

“Hey Rachie,” Kristie replied, smiling at the taller blonde.

“Can I sit?” she asked, motioning to a spot on the bed near to Kristie.

Kristie nodded in return, and smiles as Rachel sat next down, her body facing her. Before she said anything, Rachel took one of Kristie’s hands in between her own, and rubbed the back of her hand with her thumb. Kristie looked up from their intertwined hands and gazed at Rachel, who was giving her a soft smile back.

“I had no idea there were any press,” Rachel started, after clearing her throat.

“That’s not your fault though, Rachel.” Kristie told her firmly, earning a nod from the royal.

“But I should have known,” Rachel began, “the press has been closely following me since my brother died. They want a reason to hate me,”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but what happened?” Kristie asked, carefully.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Rachel sighed, although wanting to tell her the truth.

“Were you close growing up?” Kristie said, hoping to start with happier memories.

“Best friends,” Rachel confirmed, “we were partners in crime. He would tell me stories that he remembered of our father. He died when I was four, and my brother 8.”

Kristie smiled at the idea of Rachel as a child running around the grand palace with her older brother. Most likely irritating the staff as well as their parents.

“But as we got older, our relationship changed,” Rachel told her.

“How so?” Kristie probed.

“I think he started to realise the responsibilities he would face. He realised that he would one day be the King of England and the common wealth.” Rachel told her. “He stopped messing around so much, and started acting more responsibly. When he turned 21, he joined the military as us royals are supposed to do, and I missed him so much. In a way, I couldn’t wait until I turned the same age so I could join him and we could become close again.”

“Four years had passed and I finally turned 21. I joined the army as was expected of me, and I was so excited to finally spend time with him again,” Rachel said, as Kristie wiped a tear that fell from the royal’s cheek, “we got close again in the army, and we became best friends again. The media loved it. They called us the ‘ultimate royal duo’ and other things.” Rachel smiled at the memory.

“Fast forward five years, and my brother was a week away from leaving the army and undertaking royal duties for the rest of his life, as we do when we turn 30.” Rachel told her, “we got a call about some gunshots that were heard in the distance, and we assumed it was a pretty routine call out. It wasn’t until we got there that we realised that it was essentially a full-blown war between the British troops and the Taliban.”

“So what happened?” Kristie asked her, wiping some of her own tears from her eyes.

“We did what we were trained to do, fight back.” Rachel said, trying to compose herself. “After what I’m guessing was around an hour, I led my brother into an abandoned building I thought we had just cleared. Turns out, there was one guy left, and as we rounded the corner at the top of a flight of stairs, he shot my brother in the chest at the same time as he was shot in the head by my brother.”

Kristie swallowed a large lump in her throat. She never realised the beautiful girl in front of her was so broken, deep down inside. She gave Rachel a supportive smile, as she carried on talking.

“I tried so, so hard to save him, Kris. But there was blood absolutely everywhere,” Rachel said, wiping her eyes, “I knew he was gone. He died a hero, and his lasts words for me was ‘look after the country, sis. Promise me you won’t destroy it!’ and he just laughed, Kris. The last thing he would ever say, and that’s what he chose.”

Kristie couldn’t help but laugh. She could see Rachel do the same thing if she were in her brother’s position. She could tell how similar the pair were. It made her upset that she would never have the chance to meet him.

“At this point, I knew he was gone. I just screamed, Kris,” Rachel told her, gathering her thoughts, “even though nothing came out. Turns out there had been journalists nearby, who weren’t supposed to be this close to the action. They managed to get a picture of the two of us as he was dying in my arms,” Rachel showed her the picture on her phone. Kristie had seen it before, but had no idea it was the same girl as the one next to her. “It took days of scrubbing to get his blood off of me, my hands were raw.” Kristie nodded.

“Ever since then, I have been discharged from the military. Emotional distress they told me,” Rachel laughed, dryly, “and now I’m the only heir to the throne. That’s why the media dislike me so much. They think I purposely told my brother to go into the building with the intention of getting him killed, so I would be the next monarch of England.” As she finished, she gave the soccer player a sad smile.

Kristie registered everything that Rachel had told her. She was shocked at how the press had treated their next Queen. She discovered how strong Rachel truly was, and that’s something she admired about her. Kristie found herself falling for the royal an increasing amount, and that scared her.

Building a little courage, Kristie leant over and gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek, earning a blush and a smile from the princess. Looking at the soccer player in the eyes, Rachel felt Kristie’s hands come up to her cheeks, and cradle her face. Rachel tucked a loose strand of her behind Kristie’s ear, and placed her hands on the soccer player’s waist. Both slowly leaning in, their lips finally met.


	5. Chapter 5

Building a little courage, Kristie leant over and gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek, earning a blush and a smile from the princess. Looking at the soccer player in the eyes, Rachel felt Kristie’s hands come up to her cheeks, and cradle her face. Rachel tucked a loose strand of her behind Kristie’s ear, and placed her hands on the soccer player’s waist. Both slowly leaning in, their lips finally met.

\---

After a few more moments of kissing, the pair pulled back from one another in need of air. Rachel gave Kristie an ever-so-charming smile that made the soccer player melt into a puddle right in front of her. Not really believing that she had kissed the heir to the British throne, Kristie shook her head and laughed into the royal’s shoulder.

Rachel threw her arms around the blonde and gave her a gentle kiss on the top of her head. Removing her head from the princesses’ shoulder, Kristie smiled at the girl in front of her.

“That was nice,” Rachel said, Kristie finding her accent as attractive as ever.

“Just nice?” Kristie teased, tilting her head to the side.

“Well,” Rachel continued the joke, “I’ve had worse, I guess.”

Kristie playfully punched Rachel in the arm after the comment. After she had made contact, she noticed a small tattoo on the royal’s left arm. Rachel noticed the soccer player’s gaze upon her arm. Without her needing to ask, Rachel told her what it was.

“It was my brother’s military personnel number,” Rachel said, “another way to wind up my mother, eh?”

“I take it she’s not a fan then,” Kristie laughed, taking a closer look at the ink work.

“She says that tattoos are forbidden. According to her, they make us look ‘common’,” Rachel laughed, shaking her head, “do you have any?”

“Tattoo virgin,” Kristie smiled, “although I’ve never ruled them out,”

Rachel smiled in response, and Kristie immediately returned it. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, unsure of what to say. They both sensed a different atmosphere to their relationship after the kiss, as well as learning what happened to Rachel’s brother.

“Hey, uh,” Rachel started, becoming increasingly nervous in front of the other blonde, “what does this mean for us?”

“We like each other, right?” Kristie said, almost stating the obvious.

“Obviously,” Rachel laughed.

“Then what are you worried about?” Kristie asked.

“Nothing,” Rachel replied, “I guess you’re stuck with me for now then,”

“Such a shame,” Kristie sarcastically replied, smiling at the princess.

“Let me take you to dinner,” Rachel said, using her charming smile.

“How?” Kristie asked, “you will get recognised wherever we go. Trust me, I’m not ashamed of you, but you know what the press are like! I want to get to know you privately,”

“When do you go back home?” Rachel asked, thinking of how to get around the problem.

“The day after tomorrow,” Kristie told her.

“Come to the palace tomorrow at around seven,” Rachel said, “I’ll make us something,”

“Ok,” Kristie smiled, “do I need to dress up?” she clarified, unsure how formal palace guests had to be.

“Usually,” Rachel started, “but I’ll make an exception for you,”

A knock on the door startled them, and after looking through the peep-hole Rachel opened the door to Sydney, and a few other of Kristie’s teammates that she recognised. Rachel smiled at Kristie and said ‘goodbye’, leaving the national team to themselves.

“Uh, what is that smile about?” Sydney asked, sitting on Kristie’s bed along with Alex, whilst Ali and Ashlyn took Sydney’s bed.

“Nothing,” Kristie blushed, not wanting to give away too many details.

“That smile doesn’t say ‘nothing’,” Ali told her, earning a loving laugh from Ashlyn.

“We kissed, ok!” Kristie blurted out, earning large smiles from her teammates.

“Was it good?” Ashlyn asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

“So good,” Kristie laughed, “she invited me on a date tomorrow night,”

“Where are you going?” Sydney asked, intrigued, “won’t she get recognised wherever she goes?”

“Yeah,” Kristie explained, “so, she’s cooking dinner for me at her place,”

“That’s so sweet,” Ali told her, rubbing her knee, “but we should probably all go to sleep soon before Jill kills us!”

\---

“Do I look ok?” Rachel asked Gerald, as she looked at herself in the mirror.

“Yes, ma’am,” Gerald said, from his position just inside of her room.

“You have to say that,” Rachel sighed, second-guessing her outfit choice.

“Your highness,” Gerald started, “I’m sure Miss Mewis will be excited to have dinner with you, not your outfit.”

Smiling slightly, Gerald quietly left the room as Rachel took another look at herself in the large mirror in her room. She worse a simple, fitted white button-up shift, that as usual was rolled up to her elbows and unbuttoned slightly at the top. She had tight grey chequered trousers on, along with white converse to make her outfit appear less formal.

She made her way downstairs into the kitchen, where some of the kitchen staff were currently helping her cook the meal for Kristie. She wasn’t going to be the first to admit that her cooking skills were mediocre at best, which in her eyes was not good enough for the soccer player. She checked on the chicken as the chef had told her, and added some sauce into the pan as instructed.

“She better like this,” Rachel laughed, plating up the meal she (and others) had made for her date.

“I’m sure she will, ma’am,” the head chef said, giving her a smile. The cooks soon left the palace as their shift had ended for the day.

Waiting for Kristie to arrive, she checked her watch many times. Just after seven she received a text from the girl in question on her phone, telling her that she had arrived at the gates, unsure of what to do. Rachel alerted her staff as to the arrival of her date, and waited for her arrival.

She sincerely wished that she could have met the blonde herself, but she knew that it would give the media a field-day, and she didn’t want the soccer player to deal with that. A few minutes after she had received the text from her date, Gerald entered the room with a bow. “Miss Mewis is here, your highness,” he said, leaving the room.

“Thank you,” she replied, before seeing Kristie.

“Hi,” Kristie nervously said, pulling at her dress slightly.

“Wow,” was all Rachel could reply. Kristie wore a beautiful dark green dress, that hugged her in all of the right places. It ended just above her knee, allowing Rachel to see the soccer player’s incredible legs. Her long blonde hair was in effortless curls, over her shoulder. Rachel thought that she was the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. Kristie tried to hide her blush, but failed miserably as the royal noticed it quickly.

“You look great,” Kristie replied, taking in the princess. She had always been attracted to girls who dressed more ‘tom-boyish’ rather than girls with a style similar to herself. She was also oddly attracted to the way Rachel wore her button-up shirts, and loved that Rachel often tried to show the tribute to her brother on her arm, whilst still looking formal and respectable in the process.

“Here,” Rachel said, pulling Kristie’s seat out for her.

“Thanks,” Kristie said, giving Rachel a kiss on the cheek before taking her seat. Rachel excused herself for a second to grab the food she had prepared for her date. It gave her a moment to take the room in. The dining table itself had room for up to 20 guests. It made Kristie laugh, she could imagine Rachel and her mother sat at opposite ends of the table, barely within talking distance of one another. Her laughter quickly turned into a sad smile. She could never imagine her being the same way with her family. She wondered if the royals would ever have a good relationship again.

The sound of a door opening broke her out of her thoughts, and she looked over to see Rachel carrying two plates of food, and placing them onto the table. They sat next to one another, with Rachel assuming her normal seat at one of the heads of the table, with Kristie sat in the seat just to the right of her. She couldn’t remember the last time she had dinner so close to another person. “Do you like it?” She asked, once they started their dinner.

“It’s so good!” Kristie exclaimed, being completely genuine, “I didn’t know you could cook,”

“Well,” Rachel said, “I may have had some help from the kitchen staff,”

“At least the effort was there,” Kristie laughed, learning that the royal was not the best at cooking.

The rest of the date went really well for the pair. Rachel shared some more stories about her childhood and her brother. She told the soccer player that the pair would often try and steal their mother’s crowns from the locked safe, always failing to get past the security on the door, much to his unamusement. Kristie shared childhood memories too, telling the princess about the times where her and sister Sam would drive their parents crazy due to their competitive nature. She also told Rachel that she had smashed a handful of windows in their house, which brought a wide smile to the royal’s face. They carried on talking for a while after they had finished their food, where both worse big smiles, and had plenty of laughter.

“Would you like to take a walk?” Rachel asked, both blondes not wanting the date to end just yet.

“Sure,” Kristie replied, getting up and holding her hand out for the royal to take. Happily obliging, Rachel took the soccer player’s hand after she slipped on the jacket she had left on the back of her chair.

As they stepped outside into the royal gardens, Rachel noticed that Kristie started to shiver, as she didn’t have a jacket. “Here,” she said, taking off hers and wrapping it around the other girl. Smiling, Kristie put her arms through the jacket with the help of the royal and hugged it around her body. Holding an arm out for the now warmed up girl, she guided Kristie around the gardens, showing the sports star her favourite areas, with stories to back her up. They were currently at the fountain in the centre of the royal garden.

They were brought out of their little world when Kristie heard a notification noise from her phone. Taking her hand from Rachel’s arm to answer it, they both immediately missed the heat of one another. She showed Rachel the stream of messages she had received from the national team group chat, asking how her date was going.

“C’mon,” Rachel said, setting Kristie’s phone up and walking with her back to the fountain they had been stood by, “hurry, it’s on a timer,”

They both sat on the edge of the fountain and smiled towards the phone. Rachel had her arm around Kristie’s shoulder, as Kristie held the hand hanging on her shoulder, whilst placing the other on the knee of the royal. They saw the flash go off on the phone, and went to look at the photo it had just taken.

“Send it to me,” Rachel said, “I need a new phone background,”

Kristie nodded, sending her the photo, whilst doing the same to her phone. She also sent the picture to the national team group chat, hoping to it would get them off of their backs for the time being. It failed miserably. The team bombarded her with texts telling her how cute they thought the pair were, and it warmed her heart.

“It’s getting late,” Kristie said, aware that she had to be up early tomorrow to pack for their flight back to the states.

“Yeah,” Rachel said, smiling sadly, “can I take you back to your hotel?”

“Sure,” she replied. The both headed out to the driveway of the palace, and got into Rachel’s grey Aston Martin.

“Nice wheels,” Kristie commented, after they had left the palace and made sure they weren’t being followed.

“Perks of the job I suppose,” Rachel laughed, slipping on large Ray-Ban sunglasses, “so I’m not recognised,” she confirmed to the soccer player, after she had given the royal a questioning look.

Sooner than they would have liked, they arrived at the hotel. Rachel parked her car and opened the passenger side door for her date. They walked into the hotel lobby together, after they were sure that they were not noticed by the handful of people there.

Without another word, Kristie slipped her arms around the royal’s neck and crushed their lips together in a passionate kiss. Rachel placed her hands on the waist of the soccer player and gave her a bone-crushing hug once the kiss had ended.

“Keep the jacket,” Rachel told her, as Kristie went to give it back, “something to remember me by,”

“May we meet again,” Kristie told her, giving her one last look and heading towards her room. Rachel stood in the lobby frozen in place. “May we meet again,” she whispered to herself.


	6. Chapter 6

Without another word, Kristie slipped her arms around the royal’s neck and crushed their lips together in a passionate kiss. Rachel placed her hands on the waist of the soccer player and gave her a bone-crushing hug once the kiss had ended.

“Keep the jacket,” Rachel told her, as Kristie went to give it back, “something to remember me by,”

“May we meet again,” Kristie told her, giving her one last look and heading towards her room. Rachel stood in the lobby frozen in place. “May we meet again,” she whispered to herself.

\---

The ride to her floor in the hotel’s lift felt like hours for Kristie, although in reality it was only a few seconds. She sadly slipped her room key card out of her purse and scanned it on the door, allowing her access to her room. She saw that Sydney, along with Ali, Ashlyn and Alex were all still in her room, after helping her get ready earlier on in the day.

“Hey,” Ali started, noticing that Kristie appeared to be upset, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Kristie replied.

“Look, do I need to go and kick some royal butt?” Ashlyn asked, earning a laugh from Kristie.

“No, the opposite really,” Kristie mumbled, feeling Sydney’s arm wrap around her shoulder.

“What happened?” Sydney asked her.

“She made me dinner,” Kristie started, laughing to herself slightly, “well, she told me that she got help from her kitchen staff, actually. God, the press has it so, so wrong. She is so down to earth, and loved her brother more than anything in the world. After we finished eating, we walked around the palace gardens and it was so, so beautiful. She gave me her jacket to keep me warm,” Kristie laughed, remembering she still had it on, “and that’s when we took the picture that I sent you. She was so sweet and charming the whole time, and she looked so hot,” she told them, earning a laugh from the other girls, “then she drove me back here, and I couldn’t help but kiss her again.”

“When are you seeing her again?” Ali asked, after the girls took a moment to process what the blonde had just said to them.

“That’s the problem,” Kristie told them, “how will this ever work? I live back home, and she lives here. Hell, she’s the next Queen of this place! I don’t even know when I can see her next,”

“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” Alex said, rubbing her knee.

\---

The morning of the day after their date, both girls were not particularly cheery. Rachel had texted Kristie, thanking her for a lovely evening. After a few minutes, she received a reply from the girl in question, telling her that she had a great time and she couldn’t wait to see her again soon.

Quickly getting changed out of her pyjamas, she went downstairs into the dining room where she had her breakfast every day. She gave a tight-lipped smile to her mother, and sat at the opposite end of the table to the Queen – their relationship still not the best. 

Still her mother, the Queen noticed that her daughter seemed upset this morning. She saw her daughter push her food around her plate, never really taking a bite. Finishing her cup of tea, she moved towards Rachel. Rachel saw her mother’s movement from the corner of her eyes, and prepared herself for yet another argument between them.

“What is wrong, honey?” Her mother asked. Rachel couldn’t remember the last time her mother had used a term of endearment when talking to her.

“Kristie leaves today,” she told her. Her mother knew about her daughter’s date with the football player as she had to approve all guests who came into the palace.

“That’s a shame,” the Queen told her, trying to get more information from her only child.

“I really like her, mum,” Rachel told her. It shocked her mother, as it was the first time since her son had died that her daughter had called her ‘mum’ like she used to, instead of something more formal such as ‘mother’.

“I can tell,” her mum said, smiling, “where is she now?”

“Probably at the airport by now,” Rachel sadly told her.

“Well then,” the Queen started, “what are you waiting for?”

“What are you talking about?” Rachel asked, confused as to what her mother was trying to tell her.

“Rachel,” her mum started, “use your status! You can go anywhere you want! Stop her at the airport and do what you need to do! Although, please don’t fly out with her just yet, you have some royal engagements to participate in,” her mother laughed.

Not needing to be told again, Rachel got out of her seat and kissed her mother’s cheek before running off into her bedroom to put on clothes that would allow her to blend in nicely. She chose to wear tight fitting navy jogging bottoms and a matching hoodie – hoping no one would recognise a royal in such casual clothes. She finished off her outfit with white Nike trainers and hat, with black sunglasses covering her recognisable eyes.

She rushed out of the palace, grabbing her car keys on her hurried exit. Not knowing which set she picked up, she clicked the ‘unlock’ button and noticed the lights flashing on her Aston Martin. It made her smile – she learnt last night that Kristie liked the car.

Starting the ignition, she made her way to the airport and parked in the nearest space she could find. Making sure she wasn’t being followed, she ran into the airport in search for her blonde beauty. She couldn’t find the girl in the check-in area, and let out a defeated sigh. She then remembered what her mother told her – use her powers as a royal.

She ran up the stairs to the bag check area which people without a ticket are not allowed through. Without missing a beat, she removed her hat and glasses to the lady on the desk, and she promptly allowed her access to the departure lounges. She remembered that Kristie told her that they were flying into JFK airport, so she hunted for the sign which said that airport.

Almost giving up hope on finding her, she spotted the JFK airport departure area at almost the very end of the airport. Unable to hide her smile, she ran as fast as she could towards the gate. Her leg was starting to hurt her, after she had injured it in Afghanistan.

She soon saw many familiar faces lounged out on the seats in the departure area, but only one person was in her mind. Quickly scanning the girls sat in the area, she soon found the blonde she was looking for. Kristie was engrossed with her phone, that she didn’t notice a familiar limping blonde approach her.

“Kris!” she heard a familiar English accent shout.

Raising her head, she immediately recognised the royal unlike all of the other passengers around her. She threw her phone onto the seat she had just occupied and collided with the royal, giving her a bone crushing hug. “You’re here,” Kristie whispered, hugging Rachel tighter if possible.

“I’m here,” Rachel confirmed, as the pair pulled apart.

They noticed that the rest of the team had caught on to the pair, and they both blushed, trying to look away from them. “What are you doing here?” Kristie asked, breathlessly.

“I had to see you one last time,” Rachel told her, holding the soccer player’s hands in her own.

“I’m glad you did,” Kristie sincerely told her, “but how did you get in?”

“Like I said yesterday,” Rachel said, laughing, “there are definitely perks of the job.”

Kristie pulled on Rachel’s hand and led them to a quieter section of the airport, knowing that they had plenty of time before their flight was due to depart. “Why are you here Rach? Really,” Kristie asked.

“I want to make this work between us,” Rachel told her, lifting Kristie’s chin so she could look the soccer player in the eyes.

“How?” Kristie pleaded.

“I don’t know,” Rachel said, “but I really want to be with you,”

“Me too,” Kristie blushed, bringing one of her hands up to rest on the royal’s cheek, “we’ll figure it out along the way,”

“I do know one thing we can do,” Rachel told her, blushing herself a little.

“And what is that, your highness?” Kristie asked, loving the effect the nickname had on Rachel.

“Be mine, officially,” The royal said, looking lovingly in Kristie’s eyes.

“Rach,” Kristie started before leaning putting her face even closer to Rachel’s, “I was already yours.”

They both leant in and shared a passionate kiss. The pair of them couldn’t believe that they were each other’s girlfriend. “I’m so lucky,” Rachel whispered, feeling Kristie tuck her head further into her neck. After a few more moments of hugging the pair reluctantly let go of one another.

“I should probably get you back to your teammates,” Rachel laughed, guiding her back to the departure lounge they had come from.

“Wait with me,” Kristie said, sitting down in two empty seats with Rachel by her side.

“Of course,” The royal replied, giving Kristie’s temple a kiss.

“Well, well, well,” Ashlyn said, smirking, “what do we have here?”

Not knowing what to say, Kristie buried her head into her girlfriend’s neck, trying (and failing) to hide the blush she was beginning to wear. Rachel didn’t know what to say, instead just giving a shy smile to the small group who were interrogating them.

“Leave my girlfriend alone,” Kristie told them, after her head left Rachel’s shoulder, leaving the group with wide mouths.

“Get it Kris!” Sydney said, hugging her. The rest of the group congratulated the pair.

“So, when are you next going to see one another?” Tobin asked, making the pair realise they hadn’t discussed that yet.

“Well I have to do royal engagements all next week, but I’m hoping I can fly out to the states as soon after that, so just after a week? If that’s ok with you, obviously,” Rachel nervously said.

“Of course it is,” Kristie said, giving her princess a kiss on the cheek, “here’s my address,” she said, handing Rachel a piece of paper.

“Thanks,” Rachel replied.

“Hey,” Kristie started, “why were you limping earlier? Are you hurt?

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” Rachel asked, getting a shake of the head from Kristie, “I was shot whilst trying to save my brother in Afghanistan,” Rachel told her. “The bullet went through some ligaments or something, and I’ve been having physical therapy since,”

“You’re not in any pain, though?” Kristie asked, becoming a little concerned.

“None,” Rachel confirmed, “it is just a little weak compared to the other one.”

Sooner than they would have liked, the final call was announced for Kristie’s flight. Most of her teammates were already on the plane, or at the front of the queue waiting to be allowed on board. “I guess this is goodbye,” Kristie said, sadly.

“No,” Rachel told her, cradling her face with her hand, “it’s a see you soon,” she smiled.

“See you soon, then,” Kristie said, giving the royal one last kiss.

“See you soon, superstar,” Rachel replied, waving to Kristie as she boarded the plane.

\---

Kristie had a smooth flight, and she felt on top of the world. She had a girlfriend. It had been a whirlwind of a trip, and she believed it couldn’t have been better even if she tried. Soon enough, the plane had landed and she was in the baggage claim area. After she had collected her luggage, she made her way out to the arrivals lounge in search of her family.

Soon enough, she spotted them and wheeled her luggage towards her family as quickly as she could. She embraced them all in a group hug as they greeted her.

“It didn’t take you long to go through the baggage claim,” her dad said.

“Didn’t it?” Kristie said, looking at the time on her phone to see how long she had been.

“Hang on a minute,” her sister said, grabbing the phone out of Kristie’s hand, “who is this?”

This interested her parents, who also took a look at the picture that was set as her phone background. Her parents immediately recognised it as the girl they had been speaking at the soccer match, who they soon were told was the heir to the British throne. They had both sensed the attraction between the pair, but failed to notice that it went any further.

“It’s my girlfriend, Rachel,” she told her sister, which in turn confirmed her parent’s suspicions about the pair.

“Well if you’re happy, we’re happy,” her mum told her, as they exited the airport as a family.


	7. Chapter 7

This interested her parents, who also took a look at the picture that was set as her phone background. Her parents immediately recognised it as the girl they had been speaking at the soccer match, who they soon were told was the heir to the British throne. They had both sensed the attraction between the pair, but failed to notice that it went any further.

“It’s my girlfriend, Rachel,” she told her sister, which in turn confirmed her parent’s suspicions about the pair.

“Well if you’re happy, we’re happy,” her mum told her, as they exited the airport as a family.

\---

“Still a little bit jet lagged?” Kristie’s mum asked her, seeing her daughter stroll down the stairs at lunch time after only just waking up.

“Just a little,” Kristie laughed, tucking into some breakfast that her mother had made for her.

Since she had slept most of the time she had been home with her family so far, she hadn’t really had time to miss her girlfriend who was back in England. Although they have only known one another for a little over a week, she knew that she had never felt the way she does before.

“She’s alive!” Her sister Sam shouts, making her laugh and smile wide.

“Just about,” her mum said, earning a chuckle from her younger sister.

“So, your highness,” her sister joked, “when are you seeing your royal again?”

“Well, if it is ok with you,” Kristie said, looking at her family for approval, “I invited her to the house for a few days next week as she hasn’t got any engagements then,”

“Of course,” her dad told her, “we’re excited to get to know her,”

Kristie smiled at them. She loved that her family didn’t believe what they had read about her girlfriend in the newspapers, and were willing to get to know her without judgement. She was excited to show Rachel around her home town, and get to know the Royal even more.

“Just don’t treat her any differently,” Kristie told them after a moment, “she hates it.”

\---

“So, how has your week been, love?” Rachel asked her girlfriend, as she sat down for the first time today after a long day full of royal duties. She rubbed at her knee a little bit, the long periods on her feet had made her leg start to hurt just a little bit.

“It’s been really good,” the royal heard Kristie say on the other end of the phone, “I’ve just been chilling with my family.”

“That’s good,” Rachel said, and Kristie could tell she was smiling.

“How was your duties today?” Kristie asked, curious as to what the royal had been up to all day.

“They were really fun, actually,” Rachel told her, “I got to visit a few schools today, and meet some children who have special needs,”

“That’s great, babe,” Kristie replied.

“Yeah it was,” the royal said, “I think they’re putting some pictures on my Instagram of the day if you wanted to see them,”

“I’ll definitely check those out,” she flirted with the royal.

“I hope you do,” Rachel told her, smiling to herself.

“Talking about social media,” Kristie started, “am I allowed to share pictures of us online?”

“I don’t see why not,” she replied, “why? Do you want to show me off or something?” Rachel laughed.

“Maybe,” Kristie said.

“Just be mindful that social media will probably go crazy,” Rachel told her, worrying about her girlfriend, “it will probably make national news, and they will try and find out every detail about you. Please tell me if you become overwhelmed,”

Kristie liked the protective side of her girlfriend, appreciating her concern. Soon after, the pair said their goodbyes as it was getting late for Rachel as she is several hours in front of her due to the time difference between the countries.

Opening up her Instagram app, she selected the photograph the pair had taken at the fountain, where they held onto each other tightly. She uploaded the picture with a smile, and added the caption – @kmewis19: Thanks to my girlfriend for the best date, I can’t wait to see you soon’ with the heart emoji’s. She quickly shut the app after uploaded the post, as she knew that it would attract plenty of likes and comments.

“Well aren’t you two adorable,” Sam said to her, having seen the picture she had put on Instagram.

“We do try,” Kristie replied, making her younger sister laugh.

“Just make sure she doesn’t mess you around,” Sam told her, taking the conversation into a serious tone.

“She won’t,” Kristie said in return, giving her sister a hug.

\---

“So, I saw that your girlfriend posted about the pair of you on social media,” Rachel’s mother said to her, as they ate their lunch next to one another. Her mother took her usual seat at the head of the table, and Rachel had moved closer to her, taking the seat to her mother’s left. Since their initial conversation about Kristie, the pair had begun to repair their relationship with one another.

“Yeah,” Rachel replied, “can I do the same?” She wished to follow Kristie on Instagram, and other forms of social media. The press would know about their relationship by now anyway, as Kristie had confirmed it on Instagram.

“Of course, dear,” He mother started, “and your visit to the museum the day after tomorrow has been cancelled, due to a burst boiler. So, it wouldn’t be an issue for you to pay your girlfriend a visit sooner than planned.” With that, the Queen gave her a smile, and they finished their food with light conversation.

“Well then, I’ll go and pack,” Rachel told her mum, “I’ll see you soon,” and she gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and headed to her room to pack.

With the assistance of some of the palace staff, she quickly packed various outfits for her trip, ranging from comfortable outfits, all the way to essentially black-tie. As usual, she had to pack a black outfit like all members of the royal family, in case a member passed away on her trip, so she was ready for a funeral.

She had one of the palace staff take her to the airport, as she didn’t want to leave her car there for the immediate future. Before she left the house, she had called the royal pilot in advance and told him where she was intending to fly.

Quickly being guided through the airport by her driver, she made her way onto the plane and made herself comfortable. She was excited to see the blonde she had rapidly became very fond of, and she hoped that her girlfriend felt the same way.

Soon enough the plane had taken off and she was on her way to the United States. She tried to sleep for most of the flight, as she didn’t want to be jet-lagged once she arrived at her girlfriend’s house. A tap on her shoulder woke her up.

“Sorry to disturb you, your highness,” the flight attendant said to her, “but we have arrived.”

Rubbing at her eyes, she looked out of the window and sure enough she had landed in Kristie’s hometown. She smiled at the lady who had just woken her up and left the plane. As she expected, paparazzi had caught on to her relationship and assumed she was visiting her partner – so there were even more than usual.

Her security helped her through the crowds and into car waiting for her, and they made a quick getaway to avoid being followed any further. She didn’t want the press to find out where Kristie lived, as she deserved at least a decent sense of privacy.

After an hour or so of driving, Rachel’s driver pulled up outside Kristie’s family home, and she jumped out of the car after the driver had opened her door. Giving him a nod of appreciation after he had bowed to her, she made her way to the front door, making sure that there was no press around.

Trying to control her nerves, she raised her hand to the doorbell and pressed it in for a second. Bouncing back and forward on her feet, the door soon opened revealing a girl who she did not recognise, but looked similar to Kristie.

“So, you’re the girlfriend,” the girl joked, extending her hand out to Rachel which the royal took, “I’m Samantha, or Sam, Kristie’s younger sister,”

“Nice to meet you,” Rachel said, sincerely, “I hope it’s ok that I came earlier than planned, something was cancelled so I was free,”

“Honestly, I’m so grateful you came early,” Sam told her, allowing her into the house, “Kristie has been moping around for days, I think she missed you.”

“Thanks,” Rachel replied, “not to be rude, but where is Kristie?”

“Oh yeah, right,” Sam said, forgetting why the girl was here, “she’s upstairs, second door on the right,”

“Cheers,” Rachel told her, heading up to Kristie’s bedroom.

She knocked on the door and waited for a response. After a couple of seconds, she heard Kristie shout “I’m not in the mood, Sammy!”. Rachel laughed, and Kristie could recognise that laugh from anywhere. Jumping off of her bed, she ran the short distance to the door and opened it, revealing her girlfriend.

“Babe,” Kristie whispered, as she jumped on the royal and wrapped her arms around her neck, with her legs around Rachel’s waist. She tucked her neck as far into the princess’ neck as she could.

Rachel left soft kisses to the side of Kristie’s head, as she guided them back to her bed, sitting them down. Rachel took in her girlfriend. She was wearing jogging bottoms along with a hoodie, as well as her hair in a messy bun and Rachel couldn’t believe that she could possibly be more beautiful than in this moment.

“Surprise,” Rachel said, after Kristie had reluctantly let her go.

“What? How?” Kristie tried to speak coherently, but too many thoughts were going through her mind.

“The museum visit I told you about,” Kristie nodded to Rachel, “Well, apparently, the boiler burst so the place had to be evacuated, so that means I can spend an extra couple of days with you,”

“You’re the best,” Kristie said, and brought the royal into a sweet kiss.

A funny noise broke them apart, which they both soon realised was Rachel’s stomach indicating that she was hungry. Telling Rachel that her parents were almost finished cooking the family dinner, she held her hand as they made their way downstairs, and sat on the dining room table.

Kristie’s parents smiled at their daughter’s girlfriend, finding themselves liking her already, without really knowing much about her. After a few more minutes, the food was ready and Sam was called into the combined kitchen and dining room.

After settling in, the family along with Rachel made light conversation for most of the meal. Kristie and Rachel would sneak loving glances at each other, hoping to be unnoticed by the rest of Kristie’s family. However, they weren’t. Her parents knew that the pair had a whirlwind romance so far, and were head-over-heals for one another. 

“So, Kristie tells me that you used to be in the army?” her dad asks, already knowing full well what the answer was. He knew the stories of her and her brother, but wanted to involve her in the conversation.

“I was, yeah,” Rachel replied, after swallowing her mouthful of food, “but not anymore.”

“Did you enjoy it?” her mum asked.

“I did actually,” Rachel told them with a genuine smile, “but it was my time to go.”

“So, are you looking forward to being the next Queen?” Sam asked, trying to lighten the mood.

“Uh, that’s a difficult one to answer,” Rachel honestly said, “part of me would love to be the leader of Britain and the common wealth and make the world a better place. But, the other side of me knows that there will be insane amounts of pressure and responsibility put onto my shoulders. I’ll lose a lot of the freedom I have now, which will be annoying, but I will have the opportunity to do a lot of good. So, to answer your question, I have no idea.” Rachel ended, with a laugh.

“Well, I am,” Kristie joked, winking at Rachel. This made the rest of the room laugh.

Soon after the dinner had come to a natural end and the couple were lead on the sofa in the living room, watching whatever was on the television, neither really paying attention to the screen. Rachel had her arm around her girlfriend’s shoulder, whilst Kristie had one of her hands wrapped in between Kristie’s waist and the back of the sofa. She also had her other hand drawing patterns along Rachel’s stomach, secretly liking the feel of Rachel’s abdominal muscles under her touch.

“She looks happy,” Kristie’s dad said to his, wife as they were washing up the dishes from the family dinner.

“She does,” she replied, taking a look at them and smiling.

“Out of all people possible, I can’t Kristie may be the next Queen of England along with Rachel,” Sam said, in a disbelieving look, earning a laugh from her parents.

“I’d start believing it, if I were you,” Kristie’s dad told her, smiling at the pair.


	8. Chapter 8

“Out of all people possible, I can’t Kristie may be the next Queen of England along with Rachel,” Sam said, in a disbelieving look, earning a laugh from her parents.

“I’d start believing it, if I were you,” Kristie’s dad told her, smiling at the pair.

\---

Laughter filled the Mewis household as they held their weekly family game night. But this time, they had a new guest in the form of an English royal – who they treated no differently.

“Babe, that makes no sense!” Kristie exclaimed, trying to figure out what her girlfriend was acting out.

A few too many glasses of wine and the family were playing a heated game of charades. Kristie’s mother was far in the lead, yet it didn’t stop the family from all trying to overtake her. 

Unable to speak due to the nature of the game, Rachel let out a playful groan in annoyance. She decided to make it as simple as possible for the Mewis family. She made the sign for a ‘film’ and held up three fingers to indicate how many words were in the title.

She indicated that she was going to try and do an action for the second word. She decided to point to herself and used her hand to try and show that something was on her head. Gaining confused looks from the family, she then put three fingers up, to act out the third word.

She pretended to open a book and use an imaginary pen to write into the book. After a few seconds of acting out the third word, Sam shouted out a guess.

“The Princess Diaries!” she exclaimed, earning a loud ‘finally’ from the royal.

“Yes Sammy!” she said, high-fiving her girlfriend’s sister.

Laughing to herself, Rachel sat next to her girlfriend, unaware that Kristie had been taking pictures of her throughout her turn at charades. Smiling at the royal, Kristie leaned into her side, as Rachel placed her arm around Kristie’s shoulder.

As Sam was picking a piece of paper from a bowl to determine what she would act out, Kristie’s dad gave a gentle nudge to his wife, nodding towards the couple on the sofa. They noticed that after only a few minutes their daughter appeared to be fast asleep on her girlfriend. Smiling at the pair, their attention turned back to the game where their younger daughter was ready to start.

After a couple more rounds, the game slowly came to a natural end, especially as one of the participants was fast asleep, and Rachel purposely stopped guessing as she didn’t want to wake her girlfriend.

Saying her ‘goodnights’ to Kristie’s family, she slipped one arm under her girlfriend’s knees and the other wrapped around her shoulder. As she lifted the blonde, she felt Kristie’s arms wrap around her neck and snuggle further in her chest.

Already in comfortable clothing from the family game night, the pair didn’t see the point in changing into pyjamas – also because they were far too tired to even care.

“Night, love,” Rachel sweetly said, placing a kiss on her girlfriend’s forehead as Kristie leant her had on the royal’s chest.

“Night, babe,” Kristie replied, snuggling closer to the princess.

\---

Still a little bit jet lagged and not in the correct time zone, Rachel woke up before the other members of the Mewis household. She glanced at her phone and squinted her eyes as she took in the bright display. She noticed that the time was just before seven in the morning, and decided to lie back down.

As she couldn’t get back to sleep, she decided she would head downstairs and make some breakfast for everyone. Removing her arm from the sleeping girl, she gently rolled Kristie onto her side so she would not wake up.

Sliding a pair of Kristie’s jogging bottoms on, she noticed that she chose one of the national team pairs, which had the initials ‘KM’ as well as the number ‘19’ on them. Smiling, she made her way downstairs and out of the front door. She headed towards a 24-hour English food store that she saw on her way to Kristie’s home, and found the ingredients she needed.

She saw the looks of recognition on some of the other shoppers, who couldn’t seem to think of who she was – which she was partly glad of. After paying for the food, she quickly walked the distance back to the house and started preparing breakfast.

Rachel soon felt arms wrap around her waist, and light kisses being pressed to her shoulder. Turning around, she smiled widely when she saw her girlfriend looking at her. Cupping her cheeks, she gave the soccer player a long kiss before turning back around and plating the food.

“What’s this?” Kristie asked, not really familiar with British breakfast cuisine.

“A fry-up,” Rachel smiled, “tell your family breakfast is ready,” and playfully hit Kristie on the bottom.

With that Kristie made her way upstairs with a wide smile on her face. She told her family that her girlfriend had cooked them breakfast, and they immediately noticed how happy she was, unlike their normal breakfast routine of essentially forcing the soccer star out of bed.

“Something smells good,” Kristie’s dad said, sitting down at his usual place at the dinner table.

“So, what is it, dear?” His wife asked, not having an English breakfast before.

“Well, its baked beans, sausage, hash brown, toast, fried eggs, tomatoes,” Rachel told them, laughing after Sam told her she was pronouncing ‘tomato’ wrong, “and then some bacon, but British bacon instead of your bacon,”

“My god,” Kristie moaned into her food, “it’s so good,”

“Thank you,” Rachel blushed, smiling at her girlfriend.

“I didn’t think you could cook,” Sam said, earning a confused glance from her family, “I mean, don’t you have people to do this for you?”

“Well, yeah,” Rachel told her, “but I much prefer doing it myself.”

“Are you allowed to do it yourself?” Kristie’s mum asked, earning a kick from her daughter, “sorry, I’m just really curious,”

“Honestly, it’s fine,” Rachel told them, putting them at ease, “well, my mum gets a little bit annoyed at me for doing it,” she said, Kristie’s family still finding it hard to get used to that the ‘mum’ Rachel talks about is the Queen of England, “but, if I can do it myself, I don’t see the point in asking someone else to do it,”

“So, what are you kids up to for the rest of the day?” Kristie’s dad asked, curiously.

“Well, I’m heading to physical therapy,” Sam told them, subconsciously rubbing at her injury.

“Yeah, therapy sucks,” Rachel replied, earning a confused glance from the family. Kristie shot them a warning glance, as if to say not to push the matter any further.

“What about you two?” his wife asked, moving the conversation along.

“We’re going out with Christen and Tobin,” Kristie told them, earning a smile from Rachel.

Breakfast was soon over, and after the Mewis family had thanked Rachel for cooking for them, the pair headed up to Kristie’s bedroom to get ready for their double date with Tobin and Christen. Kristie put on a pair of tight fitting jeans, as well as a crop top. Rachel on the other hand, had to keep closely to the royal dress code. She chose to wear a maroon button-up shirt, which like usual was rolled up to her elbows, exposing her tattoo in tribute to her brother. She also wore grey tight fitting slacked trousers, and put on what looked like an expensive watch to Kristie.

Waving goodbye to her parents, the pair got into Kristie’s car, as she drove them to the restaurant they were going to meet the other pair at for lunch. Kristie turned the radio on and laughed loudly as Rachel badly sang along to the various pop songs that were played. Soon enough, the pair had reached the restaurant and pulled into a parking space.

“It feels like ages since I last saw them,” Kristie said to Rachel, as the royal opened her door for her.

“Yeah,” Rachel replied, holding her girlfriend’s hand as they made their way to the door, “it will be nice to see them again,”

“Hi,” Kristie said to the man at the front of the restaurant, “table for Heath? I think our friends are already here,”

“Sure, follow me,” the host told them, as he walked towards the table their friends were sat at.

“Thanks,” Rachel said, as they reached the table.

Before they could say their greetings to the other couple, the waiter spoke once again. “Do I know you from somewhere?” he asked Rachel, believing that he had seen her face before.

“I don’t think so, mate,” she told him, smiling as he left the table with a slightly confused look on his face.

As she watched the waiter leave she was brought back to reality as she heard her girlfriend greet her national team friends with tight hugs. After they had broken apart, Rachel followed in her girlfriend’s footsteps and hugged the girls.

Kristie sat down first, and held the royal’s hand as she sat down next to her in the booth. They watched as Christen and Tobin sat opposite them, and made themselves comfortable in the seat. Not long after, a different waitress approached their table, and asked for their drink choices. Once again, a flicker of recognition spread across her face when taking the English girl’s order. 

“You know,” the waitress started, and Rachel already knew what was coming, “you look just like the English princess,”

“Yeah,” Rachel laughed, taking the lead, “I get that a lot,” she smiled.

“I could imagine,” she replied, “anyway, what would a royal be doing in a place like this?” she laughed as she went to get their drinks.

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” Rachel said, looking around the restaurant, which earned a laugh from the three girls she was sat with.

“Do you get that a lot?” Christen asked, seeming interested by the whole idea.

“Unfortunately,” Rachel replied, honestly, “I thought it would be you guys, with the world cup build up and everything,”

“I can’t believe it’s so soon,” Tobin said to no one in particular.

“In a couple of months, right?” Rachel clarified, earning a nod and wide smile from her girlfriend.

“So how are you finding America?” Christen asked, “it must be a lot different to England,”

“Oh yeah, definitely,” Rachel laughed, “for a start, you all sound funny,”

“No, we do not!” Kristie replied, smacking her girlfriend on the arm, “if anyone sounds funny, it’s you!”

\---

The girls had an enjoyable lunch date with the other couple, and as it came to a natural end the pair made their way back to Kristie’s house. They greeted her family, and went upstairs to quickly get changed into some more comfortable clothes.

“Can I upload this?” Kristie asked, referencing a picture they had taken in the restaurant. They were both smiling sweetly to the camera, with Kristie’s head leant against the royal’s slightly.

“Of course, love,” Rachel said, as they made their way back downstairs.

The pair made themselves comfortable on the large sofa in the living room, and watched whatever was on the television. After a couple of hours, Rachel needed to go and get a drink, so she got up and headed towards the kitchen, leaving her phone on the table in view of the Mewis family.

Out of earshot of the royal, her phone started to ring. Being the closest to the phone, Sam looked at the screen and noticed that it was the Queen herself who was calling their daughter. “It’s her mom,” Sam said, showing the others her phone.

“Babe!” Kristie shouted, bringing Rachel into the room, “your phone is ringing,”

“Oh, thanks,” Rachel smiled. It immediately turned to a frown as she noticed it was her mother.

“What’s wrong?” Kristie asked, sensing that the Royal had tensed a little bit.

“Well, it’s almost three in the morning back home,” she replied, as she answered the phone and left the room.

After exchanging worried glances, the Mewis family waited in silence for the duration of the phone call. They could hear Rachel talking in the background, but couldn’t figure out what she was saying. After what felt like hours, the royal returned to the room with a heavyhearted look on her face.

“What is it, honey?” Kristie asked, becoming increasingly worried.

“My uncle passed away,” Rachel told the family, “so I have to head home right now for the funeral,”

Kristie didn’t say anything else. Instead, she got up, and hugged her girlfriend tightly. “Thank you for having me,” Rachel told Kristie’s family, hugging each of them too, “I hope I’ll see you soon,”

“Goodbye, love,” Rachel told Kristie, as she gave her girlfriend a final kiss on the doorstep, “I’ll call you as soon as I can.” Rachel waved to Kristie one last time, as her driver rushed her towards the airport.


	9. Chapter 9

“My uncle passed away,” Rachel told the family, “so I have to head home right now for the funeral,”

Kristie didn’t say anything else. Instead, she got up, and hugged her girlfriend tightly. “Thank you for having me,” Rachel told Kristie’s family, hugging each of them too, “I hope I’ll see you soon,”

“Goodbye, love,” Rachel told Kristie, as she gave her girlfriend a final kiss on the doorstep, “I’ll call you as soon as I can.” Rachel waved to Kristie one last time, as her driver rushed her towards the airport.

\---

“What is going on, dear?” Kristie’s dad asked, as they made their way to the front door, seeing the back of Rachel’s car speed away from the house.

“Apparently, her uncle died,” Kristie told him, stepping back into the house. “She has to go straight back home,”

“She didn’t seem too upset,” Sam mentioned, as the pair settled back into the living room.

“They never really got on,” Kristie remembered, not really willing to go into the details right now. Instead, she changed the channel on the family television to a ‘breaking news’ broadcast. Soon enough, the death of the royal was announced across the world, claiming that he had died from a sudden heart attack.

After another half an hour, Kristie felt her phone vibrate in her trouser pocket, and looked at the screen. She smiled as she read the text from her girlfriend, telling her that she had just boarded the plane and she would call her as soon as possible.

“So, what happens next?” Kristie’s mother asked, unsure of the funeral plans for royal family members.

“I think it will be a huge event,” Kristie informed them, “Rach told me that her dad’s and brother’s were broadcasted across the globe,”

“I couldn’t imagine what that feels like,” Sam whispered, putting a comforting knee on Kristie, knowing that her sister would be worried about her girlfriend.

“She’s tough,” Kristie said to no one in particular, “she is the strongest person I have ever met.”

Nothing was said after that, and the family decided that it was getting late, and therefore they should head to bed. After what felt like hours to Kristie – but in reality, only a few minutes had passed – Kristie looked at the time on her phone once again, for it to be just after midnight.

She sent a quick text to Rachel, telling her to stay strong and that she was always here for her. She didn’t expect a reply back, as she knew the royal was currently travelling and most likely would not have any phone signal. After the message said ‘delivered’, she locked her phone once again and tried to go back to sleep.

\---

Rachel found her way through the airport relatively stress free, with only a few glances shot her way in recognition. She was wearing very casual clothes which seemed to deter people from believing that she was the Princess. She managed to get onto the plane before the news of her uncle’s death broke, so no questions were aimed at her.

Slipping into the plane’s bathroom once they had taken off, Rachel slipped out of her clothes and changed into the pre-packed mourning outfit that she had to bring with her in case of a death in the family. She buttoned up the white button-up all the way, tightened the black tie around her neck, and then put on her black suit jacket that matched the tailored trousers she was wearing.

She made her way back to her seat, trying to ignore the sympathetic gazes she was gaining from the stewards on the plane. Once she had sat down, she pulled at her collar to try and loosen it from her neck, but didn’t have much luck.

Knowing she still had a few hours left on her flight, she decided to turn on the plane’s television, fully expecting the news channels to be flooding with stories on her uncle. She was right, and every channel that the plane offered were currently having a ‘breaking news’ section, confirming the death of the second in line to the throne, after herself.

Sighing loudly to no one in particular, she turned the television off, throwing the remote onto the table next to her. She unlocked her phone that was in her pocket and went to call Kristie, forgetting that she couldn’t because she had no signal. Instead, she looked at the picture she had of her girlfriend on her home screen, which was taken without the other girl’s knowledge.

She had taken it whilst Kristie was driving the pair of them to their double date with Christen and Tobin. Rachel thought that her girlfriend looked absolutely breath-taking, whilst she was singing along to a song on the radio. Smiling, she locked her phone and tried to get some sleep, knowing she had a long few days ahead of her.

After several hours, she was woken by one of her royal aides, informing her that they had landed, and she would most certainly be faced by hundreds of press and paparazzi outside. Having gotten used to the attention she received after a royal death, she took a deep breath whilst the doors of the plane opened.

She immediately heard the sound of the shutters on the hundreds of cameras that were outside her plane, the frequency of the noise increasing further as she stepped out of the plane, and into a car that was parked as closely as possible to the plane. She purposely ignored the questions and refused to make eye contact with the press.

\---

A few days had passed and both Rachel and Kristie missed each other dearly. They both noticed that the only story on the news recently was of Rachel’s uncle passing away, and wished nothing more than to try and put the event passed them.

Between long days of royal duties and funeral arrangements, as well as Kristie returning to soccer training, the pair had not had many chances to speak to one another – getting the both of them down. They were only able to have short and sweet phone calls, with the rare facetime. The time zones made it even harder, further limiting their time to talk to one another.

Matters were only made worse when Rachel was photographed hugging a stunning, yet sad brunette (in Kristie’s eyes), as well as giving her a kiss on the cheek. She had saw the picture whilst scrolling through her phone late one night.

She decided not to call Rachel at that moment, England was in the early hours of the day, and Kristie knew that the royal had yet another long day ahead of her. Instead, she decided to mention it when the blonde in question called her the next day. She could hear in the princesses’ voice how truly tired and drained she was, and it made her feel guilty for asking her.

Luckily for her, Rachel wasn’t mad. She understood what it looked like. She told the soccer star that it was her cousin, the daughter of her uncle who she had not seen in a while – and one of the few people who knew the truth about her brother. They spoke for a while longer, and all of the tension was gone. They knew that their relationship would rely heavily on good communication, and they felt as if they were getting there.

They spoke on the phone for as long as they could, until Rachel told her girlfriend that she had to go to bed. Rachel explained that the service would be televised around the world, and if she wanted to watch she would probably have to wake up a little earlier than usual, due to the time differences.

“Good luck for tomorrow, babe,” Kristie told her, as they were saying their goodbyes.

“Thanks love,” Rachel replied, “please don’t feel like you have to watch it. It isn’t the nicest thing in the world to see, let alone be involved in.”

“I want to,” Kristie confirmed, her heart breaking at the thought of her girlfriend having to go through such a thing, “I wish I could be there,”

“Me too,” Rachel said, “But, royal protocol, my dear. You’re not allowed to come to royal engagements unless we’re engaged, apparently.”

“Someday, then,” Kristie replied, earning a hearty laugh from her girlfriend.

“Someday, indeed.” Rachel told her, as they both ended the call.

\---

Both Kristie and Rachel failed to sleep that night. Up at six sharp that morning, Rachel was currently eating the breakfast she was given by the palace staff. Not really able to stomach the food, she pushed it around on the plate and gave her mother a tight smile as she took her seat next to her daughter.

Neither spoke for a little while, until Rachel felt a hand fall on top of hers. Turning towards her mother, she noticed tears in the corner of her eyes. Before she could speak up, her mother spoke before her.

“I know you and my brother Albert didn’t always see eye to eye,” her mother started “but I respect you for taking part in the state funeral,”

“We got along until I told him I’m gay,” Rachel confirmed for the Queen. Her mother always had suspicions as to why the pair fell out, and her daughter had just confirmed why. “I never really had a problem which him. I know how much he meant to you.”

“Still,” her mum said, “I appreciate you being here,”

“I’m always going to be here for you, mum,” Rachel replied, as she got out of her chair and gave her mother a bone-crushing hug, “us royals stick together.” She said, pulling away, and keeping her eyes locked with her mother’s. “Now, get all of your emotions out so that it isn’t on camera.” Rachel joked, as she wiped a tear from her mother’s cheek. Royal protocol prompted them to avoid showing emotion when in public, even at funerals.

Rachel and the Queen went their separate ways to prepare for the funeral. The Queen had a beautiful long, black dress with a red sash from her shoulder diagonally to her waist, to signal that she was part of the royal family. She also wore gloves along with plenty of expensive jewellery. Finally, she placed her crown onto her head, and allowed the palace staff to come to her aide, making sure the outfit was complete.

Rachel had also finished getting ready. As she served in the military, she was instructed to wear one of her army uniforms. She wore black leather shoes, along with tight fitting black trousers, with a red stripe down the side. At a sad time, it made her smile that they were the trousers she had worn when she met her girlfriend. Above her t-shirt, she slipped an all-black jacket above her head, with black buttons to match. She had golden shoulder pads, as well as wrist cuffs and collar. Like her mother, she set her red sash from her shoulder to waist, and secured the gold rope-like material onto her jacket. She was then handed the blunt sword from one of her aids, and she put it into its holder, and tightened the belt around her waist. Finally, she placed her military medals over her heart, and kissed them like usual in honour of her brother. She finally placed the military hat onto her head, with her hair in a neat bun at the back of her head.

She met her mother in the palace lobby, and without saying a word to the other, they wrapped their arms around one another, knowing how the other was feeling. Rachel was either not born yet, or too young to attend any of her grandparent’s funerals, so she had only been to a few state funerals before. However, these were for her beloved father and brother. Taking a final deep breath, the pair left the palace, and took a seat in the royal carriage, that was being powered by horses who themselves were in their royal funeral uniform.

\---

“It’s on,” Kristie heard one of her teammates say. After last night’s conversation on the phone, Kristie messaged her national team teammates that she was closest to, and asked if they could watch the funeral together. Luckily for her, they were still in pre-season so a lot of them were still local to her.

Sydney sat next to her, and held her hand tightly. They were in Ali and Ashlyn’s house, and the couple had just finished making some drinks for their guests and took a seat. Next to them sat Tobin and Christen, with Alex on the floor in front of them, despite the couple’s protests. All their eyes were glued to the screen in front of them.

Kristie felt Sydney’s grip on her hand get tighter once the group spotted her girlfriend and the Queen arrive at the very end of the road, and climb out of the car, with the assistance of some military personnel. The camera soon panned out and the group noticed the sheer number of mourners who lined the street. It was at least in the hundreds of thousands, and possibly even more. Another carriage then arrived, and Kristie spotted a familiar brunette exit the car, along with who Rachel said was her auntie. The women held hands as they met the Queen and first in line to the throne. Rachel extended an elbow to her mother, and the Queen quickly too it, giving a grateful smile to her daughter.

Kristie couldn’t tell if the scene warmed her heart, or shattered it into a million pieces instead. She watched as a royal vehicle pulled up in front of the four women. The girls instantly realised that it was carrying the coffin of the deceased, and suddenly all felt emotional. The turned their attention back to the television and saw more military personnel take the beautifully crafted coffin out of the car, and placed it on their shoulders – positioning themselves a few strides in front of the royals.

Whilst this was taking place, the Queen along with Rachel’s auntie and cousin all curtsied to the coffin. At the same time, Rachel stood strong and gave a military salute her uncle, her mother still holding on to her other arm. Slowly, she put her hand back to her side, and made the long walk to the church the funeral would be held in.

Thousands of people in the crowd started to throw flowers at the royals, some even crying hysterically. The camera zoomed in on Rachel, and Kristie almost stopped breathing in worry for her other half. Although appearing strong on the outside, her girlfriend knew that she was anything but. She saw that Rachel kept clenching her jaw muscles, which she had discovered that it was her girlfriend’s way to try and keep her emotions in check, whilst they watched the titanic in Kristie’s bedroom after finding out that the royal had never seen it before. Kristie noticed that her eyes were fixated in front of her, not looking at the crowds.

After what felt like hours, the royals finally made it to the front of the church. In a cruel way, it was lucky that His Royal Highness Albert Hollingsworth was not in the immediate family to the throne like Rachel, as this would mean cameras would be allowed access inside the church – denying the royals any privacy. Rachel knew it happened for her brother and father – and would happen for her and her mother. It enraged her, that the media could deny them the chance to grieve properly.

With one final small, sad wave to the crowds, Rachel turned back around and faced the church entrance after they finished climbing the steps. She bowed to the minister, and he offered his condolences. They entered the church, and sat at the front, in front of the other guests – out of the camera shot, and Kristie’s concerned eyes. Taking a deep breath, she held her mother’s hand and tried to stay strong for her.


	10. Chapter 10

With one final small, sad wave to the crowds, Rachel turned back around and faced the church entrance after they finished climbing the steps. She bowed to the minister, and he offered his condolences. They entered the church, and sat at the front, in front of the other guests – and out of the camera shot, and Kristie’s concerned eyes. Taking a deep breath, she held her mother’s hand and tried to stay strong for her. 

\---

The funeral felt like it went on for hours for the royal mother and daughter. Rachel looked around the room and noticed that there must have been hundreds of people in attendance. She highly doubted that any of them were really close to her uncle, only in attendance due to their titles – just like herself.

Along with the rest of the room, she stood up and watched as the coffin was gently carried towards the door of the church, on its way to the royal cemetery, only a select few knowing where it was. The church filtered out from the front, so that Rachel and her mother, along with her aunt and cousin were the first to leave.

“Hey, Kristie,” Christen said, nudging the girl with her hand. Waking up from her nap, she looked at Christen, and then followed her eye-line to the television, where she saw that the funeral had come to an end.

The group huddled back around the television and sat in silence. They first saw the coffin being removed from the church, and put back into the royal hearse. Soon enough, she noticed her girlfriend and the queen come in view of the camera, to the loud roar from the crowds. The Queen slipped her arm through her daughter’s, and the duo waved to the crowds. 

Rachel helped her mother into one of the royal vehicles, and placed a small kiss on to her cheek. With one last small wave to the crowd, Kristie watched her girlfriend climb into the car and seem to pull something out of her pocket, and looked down at her lap.

After a couple of seconds, she heard her phone ring in her pocket. She reached for her phone and noticed that it was her girlfriend calling. Without hesitation, she answered the phone and greeted her girlfriend. She smiled at the rest of her teammates and they gave her a nod in understanding as Kristie quickly left the room to speak to Rachel.

“Is it a bad time?” Rachel asked, as Kristie had taken a long time to answer the phone.

“No, of course not,” Kristie replied, “how are you feeling?” She asked after a slight pause.

“I’m fine, like you know we really weren’t that close,” Rachel told her, “I’m more worried about my mum to be honest, they were really close.”

“I miss you,” Kristie said, not really knowing how to respond to her.

“I miss you too, love.” Rachel replied, sighing into her phone.

“When is your next break from all the engagements?” Kristie asked, hoping to see her girlfriend soon.

“I should be free in about a week and a half,” Rachel told her, after quickly checking her calendar on her phone. Kristie smiled at the thought.

The phone call ended shortly afterwards, as the royals had arrived at the secret cemetery for other royal family members. She went to edit the car, but before she could she felt a hand wrap around hers. Turning around, the saw that her mother was smiling at her. “You love her, don’t you,” she said. She didn’t get a vocal answer, instead a shy smile from her daughter, as she turned away to leave the car.

\---

~ A few months later ~

“So, how does it feel to back on the pitch, Sammy?” Rachel asked Kristie’s sister, as her girlfriend cuddled into her side after a soccer match between the sisters.

“It feels great,” Sam smiled, making the royal smile brightly back, “feels even better to beat this loser!” Sam joked, earning a punch on the arm from her older sister. 

“So, are you going to the soccer awards dinner tonight?” Kristie asked her sister, earning a nod.

“What dinner?” Rachel asked, and Kristie swore her accent had gotten thicker with all the time she had spent in her home country.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you, but we’ve had so much planned in the last few days,” Kristie said, as she moved her arms from Rachel’s waist, to around her neck. “There is a dinner tonight for all of the players in the NWSL, and I wondered if you would like to come as my date.”

The idea of asking Rachel had made her nervous for the past few days. She knew that it would be their first official appearance as a couple, and wasn’t sure if the royal was ready to officially announce their relationship to the world.

“I would love to,” Rachel replied, as she placed her hands on her girlfriend’s hips, giving her a passionate kiss. They carried on until they heard Sammy clearing her throat, and telling them to get a room.

“So, what colour dress are you wearing?” Rachel asked her.

“Why do you need to know?” Kristie laughed. She knew her girlfriend never really cared about dresses before.

“So, I can match,” Rachel smiled, and Kristie sword that her heart melted at the sight.

“Navy,” Kristie told her with a wink, and walked off to her car without another look.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” Rachel mumbled to herself, and followed Kristie and Sam to the car.

—-

Rachel tightened the navy tie around her neck, and slipped the black suit jacket on. As always, she placed her war medals above her heart. She let out a deep breath she didn’t realise that she was holding, and continued to stare at them. It was a year to the day that her brother was killed in war, and she wasn’t able to visit his grave. She hoped he understood.

“Hey babe, how do I look?” Kristie asked, as she walked into the room. Rachel looked at her in question, and Kristie quickly noticed how watery they had become. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“It’s his anniversary today,” Rachel said.

“Whose?” Kristie asked, as she rubbed her girlfriend’s biceps, looking her in the eyes.

“My brother,” Rachel told her, “it’s a year today that he was killed,”

“Honey,” Kristie breathed, “why didn’t you tell me?”  
“I was going to,” Rachel said, “but you were so excited for tonight and I didn’t want to ruin that.”

“Babe, you can tell me these things,” Kristie told her, wiping a tear from the royal’s eye. “Part of my job is to make you feel better,” Kristie smiled, rubbing Rachel’s cheek.

“I will, I promise.” Rachel confirmed leaning forward and kissing Kristie’s cheek. “You look so beautiful, by the way,”

“As do you,” Kristie replied, removing a stray piece of material from her girlfriend’s medals. She had always admired the medals, her heart warming at the thought of how brave Rachel was.

“I love you,” Rachel told her for the first time, with a wide smile, “I love you, too,” Kristie replied, giving her a tight hug.

\---

“Nice wheels,” Rachel commented, as she helped her girlfriend into the limousine that Kristie had hired, to her surprise.

After she received a wide smile from her girlfriend, Rachel made her way around to be other side of the limousine, and entered, putting on her seatbelt. She intertwined their fingers together, and the royal rubbed her thumb across the soccer player’s knuckles.

“Thank you,” Rachel said, after a minute or two of silence, “I needed a distraction.”

“I love you,” Kristie said, simply. “I’d do anything to make you happy,”

“Me too,” Rachel replied, “so what should I expect at this event?”

“Just plenty of awards and talking,” Kristie told her, “and also drinking,” which earned a raised eyebrow from her highness.

“Sounds fun,” Rachel commented, earning a smile from her girlfriend, “I can’t wait to see your teammates again, it feels like it’s been ages since I last saw them! Oh yeah, who are the others bringing as dates?” Rachel asked, curiously.

“Well, some of the girls are dating each other,” Kristie told her, making Rachel laugh. “But all of them are great, honestly,”

“So why isn’t Sam coming with us in the car?” Rachel asked, remembering that her girlfriend’s sister was also attending the event.

“She’s going with her some of her friends from the team,” Kristie said, as the limousine pulled in front of the event.

As the car came to a stop, Rachel quickly ran out of the car, and opened the door for her girlfriend. Receiving another smile from Kristie – which was quickly becoming her most loved feature of the soccer player – and she held her arm out for the other girl to take. Smiling to one of the security team members on the door, they handed over their tickets for the event. It wasn’t really necessary though, as everyone at the event knew who the pair were.

Thanking the gentleman on the door, Kristie reached for Rachel’s hand, and laced her fingers through the royal’s. “So, it says that we are sat on table number 16,” Kristie said to Rachel, and the pair looked around for the table. Quite a few of the guests had noticed the entrance of the two girls, and the pair tried to ignore them to the best of their ability.

“Ah, there it is,” Rachel said, pointing towards a table near the front of the room, next to the stage. Making their way towards the table, the pair quickly noticed the table they had been given was also occupied by Ali, Ashlyn, Alex and her husband, Tobin, Christen, and finally Sydney along with her husband.

“Hey guys,” Kristie said, as Rachel helped her into the seat, and took a seat herself next to the soccer played. A round of greetings met the girls, apart from Sydney’s husband, Dom. “Are you ok, babe?” Sydney asked her husband, the look on his face scaring her a little bit.

“Uh, it’s a pleasure to meet you, your highness,” he said, with a quick nod of the head. The rest of the table quickly caught on as to why Dom was acting like this. She was his future queen, after all.

“The pleasure is all mine,” Rachel said, giving him a genuine smile, “and just call me Rachel, please don’t feel the need to treat me any differently,”

“Well in that case, I’m sure you won’t mind me announcing that my American citizenship has finally been approved,” Dom said, earning a round of congratulations from the table.

“You renounced my mother?” Rachel asked, holding a hand over her heart and pretending to be hurt.

“I didn’t really mean it,” Dom laughed, and finally relaxed, sitting next to the heir to the British throne.

“Would you mind taking a photo of us?” Kristie asked Ali, who was sat opposite the pair. Nodding, Ali took the phone from the blonde and pointed it towards the pair. “Say cheese,” Ali said, as she took the photograph. Rachel had her arm around the back of Kristie’s chair, whilst one of Kristie’s hands fell onto the royal’s knee.

“Can I upload this onto my account?” Rachel asked, earning a large smile from the soccer player. She uploaded the picture with the caption – ‘@HRHRachelDaly: having an amazing night with some lovely company’. She closed the app quickly, knowing that the post would create a lot of attention on social media.

“So, are you up for any awards tonight?” Rachel asked, after she had finished the food on her plate.

“Just the ‘most improved player’,” Kristie replied, “doubt I will get it though,”

“Why? I think you’re incredible,” Rachel told her, Kristie didn’t reply, instead she placed her head on the royal’s shoulder and smiled, her hold on Rachel’s hand becoming tighter.

The night went well, the pair enjoying their time throughout the evening, and also enjoying the company they had at the table. As the presentation of the awards started, Rachel felt the blonde to her side become more nervous. She placed a gentle kiss on the side of her head, and rubbed Kristie’s knuckles with her thumb.

“And next, the award for the ‘most improved player’ in the league,” the lady on the stage said, and a video of all of the nominations appeared on the screen. After around a minute, the table cheered loudly as Kristie’s nomination clip played. Rachel would be lying if she said that she wasn’t attracted to her girlfriend even more than usual when she played soccer.

“And the winner is…” the announcer said, leaving a long pause for dramatic effect, “Kristie Mewis, Houston Dash and the US women’s national team,”

“Babe, you did it!” Rachel said, as Kristie looked at her with a shocked face.

Kristie made her way up to stage, and accepted the award. The announcer whispered in her ear for her to make a speech. “Wow,” Kristie said into the microphone, “I’ve had quite a tough year in soccer. I was a member of three different teams in two weeks, and my sister’s injury took a toll on me too.” She said, smiling. “But most of all, I would like to thank Rachel, for being my rock. I love you,”


	11. Chapter 11

“And the winner is…” the announcer said, leaving a long pause for dramatic effect, “Kristie Mewis, Houston Dash and the US women’s national team,”

“Babe, you did it!” Rachel said, as Kristie looked at her with a shocked face.

Kristie made her way up to stage, and accepted the award. The announcer whispered in her ear for her to make a speech. “Wow,” Kristie said into the microphone, “I’ve had quite a tough year in soccer. I was a member of three different teams in two weeks, and my sister’s injury took a toll on me too.” She said, smiling. “But most of all, I would like to thank Rachel, for being my rock. I love you,”

\---

“I’ve never taken anyone here before,” Rachel said after a few moments of silence.

Kristie didn’t reply, instead resting her head on the royal’s shoulder. She took in the breath-taking view in front of her. To her left was a beautiful lake filled with ducks and swans, and surrounding it were plenty of stunning trees. On her right, she noticed a grand fountain that had been creating a peaceful ambience since the pair had arrived.

“You didn’t have to,” Kristie replied after a while, not sure if Rachel was really ready for this.

“I told you,” Rachel started, and took a deep breath, “I wanted to introduce you to my family,” Rachel said, nodding towards the graves of her father and brother.

“I never realised how similar you look to your dad,” Kristie commentated, as she looked at the photograph on the gravestone, and then back at her girlfriend.

“Yeah, we got that all of the time,” Rachel told her, “my brother took after my mum,”

“They both look really handsome,” Kristie pointed out, as she looked at the pictures of the men in their army uniform.

“They were,” Rachel said, “I wish you could have met them properly,”

“Me too,” Kristie replied, cuddling further into her girlfriend’s side.

“My mum wants to meet you,” Rachel said, and Kristie took her head off of her girlfriend’s shoulder to take a better look at Rachel.

“She does?” Kristie asked, suddenly feeling extremely nervous.

“Of course,” Rachel replied, “she wants to know who I’m madly in love with,”

“Ok,” Kristie told her, placing their foreheads together, and bringing her hand up to place on the Royal’s cheek.

“Ok.” Rachel said, reaching for the soccer star’s hand.

\---

“Guys! I’m freaking out!” Kristie told the girls she was facetiming. On the other end of the facetime call, Christen, Tobin and her sister Sam was trying to calm her down.

“Why? She knows who you are,” Tobin said, pointing out the obvious.

“Still! It’s the queen!” Kristie replied, still freaking out.

“You’ll be fine,” Christen told her, trying to calm her down.

“I don’t even know what to wear,” Kristie said, sighing as she sat down.

Unknown to the other girls, Sam had been texting the royal about Kristie’s freak-out, and the princess had been texting her to try and help as well.

“Nothing too fancy,” Rachel said, as she came into the room.

“Rach, it’s your mom,” Kristie said, earning a confused look from Rachel, “the Queen!”

“It looks like you’re in good hands,” Sam said, hinting for the other girls to exit the facetime group as well as herself. Luckily for her, they got the hint and left, leaving the pair alone once again.

“She’s going to love you, Kris,” Rachel assured her, holding onto the soccer player’s hands, “maybe not as much as I do, though,”

Kristie laughed at her girlfriend’s comment, and dived into her suitcase in an attempt to find something to wear. After a couple of minutes, she decided on a simple black dress, that would complement the shirt Rachel was wearing.

“We don’t have to do this tonight, if you’re not ready,” Rachel said, noticing how nervous her girlfriend had become.

Kristie took in the caring smile that sported her girlfriend’s face. It was one of the things she loved most about her princess – she could calm her down by simply smiling at her.

“I’m ready, I promise,” Kristie smiled back, and laced her hand with Rachel’s. They started the walk from Rachel’s living area in the palace, heading towards the main dining room to have her first meeting with Rachel’s mother, who just so happens to be the Queen of the country.

“Rachel, dear,” the pair heard as Rachel had opened the door to the dining room. Heading towards them, the Queen soon noticed that her daughter was not alone.

“Mum,” Rachel said, stepping slightly to the side, “this is my girlfriend, Kristie Mewis,”

“It’s an honour to meet you,” Kristie replied, as she began to curtsey to the monarch.

“Oh please, darling,” Rachel’s mother said, leaning in to give the soccer player a hug, “It’s my pleasure, I have been so excited to meet you,”

“Well, I’m hungry,” Rachel said, trying to break the tension a little bit. Luckily for her, it worked. She guided her girlfriend over to her chair, and helped her in it as her dress made it slightly difficult for her to do herself.

“I see somebody has finally trained her properly,” her mother joked, as both Rachel and Kristie let out a laugh. The tension was certainly gone by now.

“She’s always had great manners,” Kristie said, attempting to make Rachel feel better about herself, “although, she does scrub up nicely.”

“Haha, very funny,” Rachel said, giving Kristie a strange look, earning a wide smile from the soccer player.

The queen took the sight in front of her in. She noticed that they bickered like an old married couple, and it made her heart warm. She hadn’t seen her daughter this happy since the death of her son, just over a year ago. She knew that Rachel would always be loved, and that was the most important thing for her.

“So, I hear that you’re going to the world cup soon?” A voice said, breaking the couple out of their bubble.

“Well, the US are,” Kristie said, earning a confused glance from the Queen, “the squad list has not been released yet,”

“She’s definitely going to be on it, along with her sister Sam,” Rachel told her mother, earning a genuine smile from the Queen.

\---

“I told you there was nothing to worry about,” Rachel said, as she slipped a hoodie over her pyjamas, lying on her bed next to Kristie.

“I know,” Kristie replied. Instead of saying anything else, Kristie shuffled closer to her girlfriend, and made herself comfortable, essentially on top of the princess. Rachel wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, and they lay in a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

“You will get picked, I promise you,” Rachel said, as she knew that her girlfriend was worrying about the announcement that was due in just a couple of hours. As the couple were currently in England, they knew that the squad would be announced late in the night, possibly even the early hours of the morning – so they had decided to try and stay up until the announcement due to the time zone difference.

‘C’mon, we have a bunch of episodes to watch,” Rachel said, as she turned on Netflix on her television and found the programme that had been binge watching over the last few days. Hearing the television turn on, Kristie tilted her head on her girlfriend’s chest so that she could face the programme.

After a couple of hours, the pair were on the verge of falling asleep, as they had a long and tiring day. They both heard the sound of a phone going off, and breaking the silence, Rachel grabbed the phone, noticing that it was Kristie’s.

“Babe,” Rachel said, trying to wake her girlfriend, “you have an email from your manager,”

That quickly woke the soccer player, and she eagerly took the phone off of Rachel to look at the email. To Rachel, it felt like several minutes went by before the other blonde said anything, although in reality she knew it had only been a matter of seconds.

“Kris?” Rachel asked, becoming slightly more concerned as the time went on.

“I did it,” Kristie whispered, so quietly that Rachel almost didn’t hear it, “I did it.”

“You did it, Kris!” Rachel said back, bringing her girlfriend into her arms, and holding on as tight as she possibly could.

The soccer player didn’t reply, instead she went in search of her sister’s name, and soon found it soon after. In her panic, she forgot that they shared a surname and therefore would be next to one another in the list. “Sam is here, too!” she exclaimed, happy tears beginning to fall out of her eyes.

“That’s amazing!” Rachel said, giving Kristie a passionate kiss on the lips.

“I’m going to call Sam!” Kristie told her, and straight away they both heard the sound of Sam shouting down the phone, earning a laugh from the pair.

\---

~ A few weeks later ~

“How does it look?” Rachel asked her girlfriend, stepping out of the hotel bathroom they were staying in before the world cup started in a couple of days.

“Oh, wow,” Kristie said, as she looked up at her girlfriend. Rachel had a replica version of Kristie’s jersey made, and was currently sporting it. Kristie quickly opened up the camera app on her phone and took a picture of her girlfriend. Rachel had a wide smile, whilst pointing towards the jersey she was wearing.

Uploading the picture to Instagram, she used the caption ‘@kmewis19: My biggest fan! #KM19!’. Rachel felt her phone vibrate as she was notified that Kristie had tagged her in the picture.

As she had expected, soon enough plenty of comments and likes appeared on the photograph. She liked and replied to all of her teammates that she could find in the comments, and decided to close the app before she spent an unreasonable amount of time on the app.

“Where were we meeting your sister again?” Rachel asked, as the pair headed towards the lobby area of the hotel. Rachel changed out of the jersey, and instead sported low-key clothes that would try and prevent her being recognised. Kristie decided to do the same, as her face had become easily recognisable for some people.

“There is some low-key breakfast place just around the corner,” Kristie said, taking her girlfriend’s hand as they exited the hotel’s doors and braved the crowds. They were currently in France for the 2019 world cup and wanted to spend their last few days before the craziness together.

“I think this is the place,” Rachel said, holding the door open for her girlfriend. Thanking Rachel, Kristie looked around the restaurant in search for her little sister. Soon enough, she found her and dragged Rachel towards her, who had still been looking for Sam.

“Hey!” Sam exclaimed, wrapping her older sister in a big hug. A few seconds later, the pair broke apart, and to Rachel’s surprise, she also received a hug from the younger Mewis sister. “How have you been, mate?” Rachel asked, as the trio sat down at the table in the restaurant.

“I’ve been great,” Sam told the royal, “but, you seem to have gotten more English since I last saw you,”

That earned a laugh from both the princess and her girlfriend, and the trio quickly settled into light conversation about the upcoming games.

“So, who will you support if we play England?” Kristie asked, gaining an intrigued smile from her younger sister. She wanted the question to be light-hearted. But, she knew how much pressure her girlfriend was under from the British media.

“You guys, obviously,” she said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

“What about the press?” Sam asked, knowing what sort of media field-day it would cause to see the future Queen of England and beyond supporting the United States soccer team.

“Screw ‘em,” Rachel replied, “I’ll just say that I’m trying to help international relations or something,” she said as she laughed out loud, making the Mewis sisters laugh along with her. “You better win, otherwise you’re going to make me look like a massive idiot.”

“We’ll try our best,” Kristie replied, kissing the royal on the cheek. The rest of breakfast went smoothly. The Mewis sisters talked excitedly about the world cup, as Rachel explained that she would most likely have some royal duties to perform whilst in France. At that moment of time, Rachel was excited about the future for this first time in a long while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! So sorry that this took so long to upload! I've been preparing to head into my second year of university - so I just wanted to give you a heads up that the updates of this work will be quite slow (sorry!!). 
> 
> It would really help to hear some suggestions for where to take the book in the coming chapters (also for me as I'm currently lacking inspiration), so anything you would like to see please comment down below and I will try and write your ideas into the story!


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys!!  
> Sorry this update has taken so long to do, but uni has been kicking my backside this year!!  
> I have also been suffering some writers block, so any suggestions on future chapters would be much appreciated!

“There she is!” Kristie’s father announced as Rachel entered the family section of the stadium, “what took you so long?”

“I had to sneak through the back entrance,” the royal replied, as she hugged Kristie’s mum and dad, “security was a nightmare!”

Earning a laugh from her girlfriend’s parents, Rachel sat down in the stands next to them and made herself comfortable. Checking the time on her phone, she saw that is was around five minutes until the game was due to kick off.

“Have they announced the line-up yet?” Rachel asked, as she couldn’t find it on twitter.

“Yes, they did,” Kristie’s mum told the princess, “both our girls are starting!”

“That is amazing!” Rachel said with a wild smile on her face, “you must be so proud,”

Becoming hot in her seat, Rachel decided to take her coat off and placed it on the back of her chair. In doing so, she revealed her United States national team jersey, knowing that it would cause a field day for the British press. Wanting to declare her love for her girlfriend on a large scale, she made a show of turning her back to the field, knowing that most of the press would be able to take pictures of her shirt from the angle.

Kristie’s parents noticed the royal’s actions, and couldn’t help but laugh at her. “Do you think they got the idea?” Kristie’s dad asked, as Rachel took her seat once again.

“I hope so,” Rachel replied, just as the teams started to enter the pitch.

\---

The United States women’s national team had easily progressed through the group stage of the competition, beating Sweden in a 2-0 win in the round of 16, and also beating the Netherlands 1-0 to progress from the quarter-finals to the semi-finals, with Kristie scoring the only goal.

The press seemed to get the message too, and most newspapers were writing articles on the relationship between the royal and the soccer star once again. Much to their surprise, they were mostly supportive of the relationship, and the fact that Rachel had decided to show her support the United States, rather than her native England.

Soon enough, the semi-finals had arrived, and after a tough game against Germany, the emerged winners which meant that they were heading to the finals. England had fallen short against Japan, which put them in the third-place play-offs with the Germans.

Rachel’s native country won the historic game, and she tweeted a message of congratulations from her official twitter account. After turning the television off, she noticed that her girlfriend seemed out of reality sat next to her.

“What’s wrong, love?” Rachel asked, as she moved to sit closer to her girlfriend.

“Just nervous,” Kristie replied, snuggling closer to her princess, “tomorrow is a big game,”

“I know that,” Rachel told her, “but I know you will be amazing!”

Kristie didn’t reply. Instead, she placed her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder and let out a deep breath. She knew that Rachel was right. The United States had beaten Japan on many occasions in the past, but she knew that nerves may get the better of her on the big day. A smile was brought to her face when she felt Rachel place a soft kiss to the top of her head, and continue to hold her tightly.

“You’re going to smash it,” Rachel confirmed, as she pulled the duvet over herself and Kristie.

“I love you,” Kristie said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

“I love you too,” Rachel told her, and kissed her gently.

\---

“How are you holding up, kid?” Kristie’s father asked Rachel as he placed a hand on her shoulder. The teams had just made their way onto the field and were currently singing the national anthem for their respected countries.

“I don’t know how you’re so together,” Rachel replied, gaining a confused look from her girlfriend’s father, “you have two people playing out there that you love,”

“It gets easier,” He told his daughter’s girlfriend, “and you must be so proud of her, too,”

“I am,” Rachel smiled, “I really am.”

The sound of the referee’s whistle broke the royal out of her trance, and she gazed her eyes upon the field to watch her girlfriend win the world cup. Although her girlfriend did not believe it, Rachel truly believed that the United States would win the game easily, and she wished for nothing more than to be right.

Soon enough the half time whistle blew and the score was 0-0. Both teams were playing well, and she could tell that the frustration was getting the better of Kristie. She wished nothing more than to run into the tunnel at half time to try and calm her girlfriend down, but she knew she couldn’t – and it killed her.

No words were really spoken within the family area of the stadium. They all also felt the frustration from the game and were desperate for a breakthrough. Sighing, Rachel stood and headed towards the drink stand in the area. Balancing three drinks, she gave two to Kristie’s parents and sat down next to them once again, waiting for the second half to start.

The sour mood of the family area was turned around suddenly when in the 89th minute the United States started an impressive counter-attack after the Japanese had lost the ball in the American penalty box. Sam Mewis ran up the field at an incredible speed, only being beaten by her older sister. Timing the pass perfectly, she sent the ball to her onside sister, who hit it first time into the top left corner of the goal.

Rachel had never moved quicker in her whole life. As the crowd erupted into celebration, she shot up out of her seat and hugged her girlfriend’s parents so hard that she thought she would hurt them. Her worries were quickly diminished as they squeezed her back just as hard.

Rachel turned her attention back to the field, and blew a kiss to her girlfriend when she noticed her eyes were on her. Kristie saw the gesture, and tapped her heart a couple of times. The next few minutes were the tensest of the entire game. The referee signalled a total of two minutes of extra time, and those were the longest two minutes of the supporter’s lives.

After what felt like hours, the stadium erupted to the sound of the referee’s whistle. “Our babies are world cup champions!” Kristie’s mother exclaimed, as she hugged her husband impossible tight.

“They did it!” he replied, wiping the tears in his eyes.

Rachel noticed her girlfriend running towards the barrier between them. Leaning as far down as possible, she cupped her girlfriend’s cheeks and gave her one of their most passionate kisses. After a few seconds, they broke apart and stared into each other’s eyes. “I’m so proud of you, babe,” Rachel told her.

“I did it, Rachie!” Kristie exclaimed as she hugged the royal once again. One they separated from each other’s arms, Kristie switched place with her sister, hugging her parents. Sam moved over to her sister’s girlfriend, and to Rachel’s surprise, gave her a big hug too.

“Thank you for making her believe she could do this,” Sam whispered, emotionally to the princess.

“I would do anything for her,” Rachel said as they split from the embrace.

“I know you would,” Sam told her, “she better hold onto you,”

“I sure hope she does,” Rachel replied, and let her girlfriend’s sister go and celebrate with the rest of her teammates a little while longer.

\---

“Have I mentioned how proud I am of you?” Rachel asked, as she tied her laces of her shoes.

“Only about a hundred times so far,” Kristie smiled as she finished applying her mascara in the small hotel mirror, earning a laugh from her girlfriend.

“Seriously though,” Rachel told her, “you’re incredible, and I love you,”

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Kristie replied, as she wrapped her arms around the royal’s neck, and leaned up to kiss her, “and I love you too.”

After an intense kissing session, they broke apart after they had heard a knock on the door from Sydney and her husband Dom. Sydney had shouted out for the pair to hurry up, as the party would have been over by time they got there if they carried on much longer.

Taking her girlfriend in for the first time, Rachel took in her beauty. Kristie wore a tight maroon dress that Rachel thought fit her in all of the right places. Like usual, Rachel allowed her girlfriend to choose her outfit for her, and she wore a pair of skinny grey chequered trousers, with a button-up shirt that is a very similar colour to Kristie’s dress.

“You look amazing,” Rachel said, as she opened the door for her girlfriend. Instead of saying ‘thank you’, Kristie gave Rachel a playful smack on the backside, and held out her hand for the royal to take once she had shut their hotel room’s door.

“Hey Sydney,” Rachel said as she greeted her girlfriend’s teammate. Once they had let go of the hug, Rachel also gave Dom a heartfelt hug too. During the tournament, the pair had formed an unlikely friendship, and Rachel felt that the hole her brother left in her heart that only an older brother could help fill was finally coming true.

“So, what is the deal with these parties?” Rachel asked, as she had never been before.

“It’s just a celebration for winning the tournament,” Sydney told her, as she pressed the button for the elevator to take them to the floor of the party.

“Why do I feel like that is a lie?” Rachel replied, laughing as they stepped into the elevator.

“Because it is,” Dom said simply, giving the royal a cheeky smile.

\---

It was a lie.

As soon as small group step foot into the room, loud cheers erupted for the goal scorer. Untangling her arms from Rachel’s waist, Kristie took a step forward and gave an over exaggerated bow to the cheering crowd, which only made them become even louder if possible.

“Let me get you a drink, love,” Rachel said, as she went in search of the bar for a drink for her and Kristie.

Just as she was about to order her drink, a family member of one of the players came up to the princess, who asked if he could take a photograph with her. Too polite to say no, Rachel left the front of the queue and walked over to the table, and took a picture with what turned out to be Christen Press’ family – so ultimately she was more than happy to take the photograph with them.

Making her way back over to the bar, Rachel joined the now long queue. Not wanting to use her status to reach the front quicker, Rachel took a moment to take in the incredible architecture of hotel reception room.

After a few more minutes, Rachel reached the bar and ordered a bottle of beer for both her and Kristie. Taking a sip from her bottle, Rachel made her way back to the table Kristie was sat at. Along with Sydney and Dom, Ali and Ashlyn had joined them.

Placing the bottle onto the table, Rachel congratulated the pair on the world cup win, and they thanked her for her support. “I’m so glad you guys won,” Rachel said, taking another sip of her beer.

“Why is that?” Dom asked, in his fading English accent.

“Imagine how big of an idiot I would have looked if you lost after I essentially renounced my own country!” Rachel exclaimed, earning a big laugh from the table.

“Good job we had Miss Superstar over here to save the day,” Ashlyn said, earning a heartfelt laugh from Kristie.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Kristie tried to protest.

“It was amazing, love,” Rachel told her, placing a hand on Kristie’s exposed knee, “never believe it was anything but,”

Kristie gave her girlfriend a loving smile. It was times like this where she could not imagine her life without the future Queen of England and beyond. It was coming up to their one year anniversary, and it felt like they had been together far longer.

Taking another sip of her beer, Rachel put the now empty bottle back onto the table, and wrapped her arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders. Just as she had done that, Jill Ellis made her way up to the mini-stage at the front of the reception room to make a quick speech.

As she had finished, the players and their families stood and applauded the coach for her well thought-out tactics throughout the tournament, and laughed at her ending line, where she said that they could all now finally relax and let their hair down.

As the room gradually sat back down, Rachel took one last room, and although she couldn’t place it, she felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. Looking for a way to distract herself, she went to pick at the label of the bottle, but stopped at the last second where a wave of horror crashed into her head.

On the bottle, she saw a relatively small red light pinpointed on it, and Rachel’s time serving in the army told her immediately that it was that of a sniper rifle. “Everyone down!” she shouted at the top of her voice, dragging Kristie under the table with her.

Just as they had their heads down, they heard the sound of glass being smashed right above to them.


End file.
